Storybrooke Times
by ml101
Summary: Storybrooke Times is the leading newspaper and publishing company in Storybrooke under the reigns of Editor-In-chief Regina Mills. But trouble is brewing as the News Section at are war with Zozo Greene who has his eyes on the coming election. Senior Associate Editor and News Section Head Adam Robert Gold is about to face a tidal wave but is it about news or about Belle French.
1. Chapter 1

_I work for a publishing company here in the Philippines so some practices maybe different in other countries or the order of hierarchy. Let me know what you think!_

 _Full summary is: Storybrooke Times is the leading newspaper and publishing company in Storybrooke under the reigns of Her Majesty, Editor-In-chief Regina Mills. But trouble is brewing as the News Section at are war with business man Zozo Greene who has his eyes on the coming election. Senior Associate Editor and News Section Head Adam Robert Gold is about to face a tidal wave but is it about news and current affairs or is it about the lovely Arts and Book subsection head named Belle French._

"Bae you better hurry up! Your mother will be here soon!" Adam Robert Gold called to his son as he finished cleaning up the kitchen counter of their breakfast.

"Coming!" shouted the 18 year old as he finished cleaning himself up and grabbing his backpack. "Geez, dad, next time don't schedule both your car and my bike on a tune-up at the same time." said Bae as he met his dad back in the kitchen. "Honestly, this is an hour earlier than when I usually leave."

"Give your mum a break, we are just hitching a ride with her and Killian," replied Adam as he dried his hands after washing their plates. He put on his coat just as a car horn was heard.

Gold's Cadillac and Bae's motorcycle were both at the shop for a scheduled check and tune-up. Adam's best friend, Milah Spinner, had offered to drive them to work and her son to school. A bit out of the way for her seeing as she lived in the metropolis area of Storybrooke while Gold had his big Victorian house in the suburban area.

Gold locked up as Bae made his way over to his mother's car where the owner was sitting shotgun with a younger man at the wheel.

"And here I thought your father would still be dragging you out of bed Baelfire," said Milah glancing his way as he got in the car.

"He pushed me off the bed," said Bae. "I still don't understand why we're an hour earlier than when I usually leave for school, Mum."

"Because I have to go to work on time," said Adam as he got in the car beside Bae. "Give your teachers a surprise for once by being on time, son."

"Hey, I don't' have an official late on my record," defended Bae.

"Grace period doesn't count for your father Bae," said the young man driving the car as they made their way to Forest High. "I know."

"How many times were you late during your first year at the Times, Killian?" asked Milah.

"Grace period or not, you were always late Jones," said Gold.

"Oh jeez, boss," said Killian. "I was still living on my boat during that time."

"So you introducing Killian and I proved to be an actual benefit to you, Adam," said Milah. "Now you're writer is always on time."

Adam laughed as Killian glared at his girlfriend.

Adam and Milah had been childhood friends and were also classmates during their University days and due to a drunken night right before their graduation, brought them Bae. Although neither felt that way for the other, they decided to keep Bae as a sign of their strong friendship.

Bae understood the relationship between his parents and didn't complain at all. He lived with his father, because as Milah puts it, Adam was the more responsible one.

Both Adam and Milah worked for Storybrooke Times, an award winning newspaper. Adam Gold was the Senior Associate editor and head of the news section, with Killian as one of his writers. Milah on the other hand wasn't a writer but was the head of the marketing department.

Killian Jones was senior correspondent of the news section, and he was the correspondent for the Navy and Coast Guard, as well as all laws concerning the sea and other water bodies. He was assigned this because of his many contacts in the field, given his boat and seafaring hobby.

They dropped Bae first and then headed to their offices.

"Does me driving you to work give me an incentive?" asked Killian, his eyes on the road but a playful smile on his face.

"What are you chasing this time?" asked Gold. He knew all too well that if Killian was asking for an extension it meant he was working on another story in mind.

"I heard the Coast Guard was commandeering a local case from what Emma is telling me," replied Killian. "Might be nothing but then again might be something."

"What's the case?"

"Murder. Sources say it has a connection with Greene."

Adam eyed Killian and saw the young man was glancing his way via the rearview mirror. Zozo Greene was a wealthy businessman who is rumored to be running for a government position come election time. There have been talks that he was paying off many law enforcement agencies to tie up some loose ends that Gold wanted to get the story on. Greene has been known to fund a lot of government projects and have donated a good sum of money.

"Who was the victim?"

"No clue yet," said Killian as he turned towards the parking of their building. "Too busy on the Navy story."

"Fine," said Gold. "End of the week, but give me more details on this by this afternoon."

Milah shook her head as Killian parked the car and they got out. "If you're going to go after Greene you need a solid piece."

"With your best friend's hunger for news," began Killian. "It'll be another thrilling feature."

Storybrooke Times' offices were housed in a 12 storey building. The lower floors were dedicated to the archives and printing machines, followed by the art and graphics department then the writing sections. Killian and Adam got off on the 11th floor while Milah headed for the 12th.

"Anything today, Ashley?" Gold asked his secretary. Ashley Boyd was a young hardworking woman, who may not have the same thirst for news and public affairs as other people on the floor, but was still very much dedicated to her job.

"Editorial board meeting at 9 and section meeting at 1, Gold," replied Ashley. "No word yet if Her Majesty wishes to see you about the editorials for next week. I did leave a message with Ariel about it. Should I follow up?"

"No," said Gold rummaging through the files Ashley handed him. "Knowing Mrs. Docks, she might just threaten to quit again."

"Mr. Glass has forwarded his editorial and wanted to know if it was already acceptable or would you and I quote 'Murder it to kingdom come' again?" Ashley asked with a small smile. "I told him I'd let you know."

"He in already?" asked Gold with a smile. Sidney Glass was the Times Managing Editor and may be good at his job of running the paper when it came to sponsorship, advertisements and other managerial tasks...but writing an opinion article was never his strong suit. He usually dealt with facts and research and not his own opinion.

Ashley nodded. "I'll tell him you're here."

"What about the other section meetings?" asked Gold as he entered his office but kept the door open so he could talk to his secretary. "Anyone mentioned that they needed me to attend?"

"Gold, everyone flags their section as meeting as needs your attendance," said Ashley from her desk. "I've managed to make a deal with everyone and organized them in such a manner that you'll be able to attend all and give a thorough lecture on how bad they've been doing their jobs and still have time to eat lunch."

Gold groaned. In all honesty, he didn't want the Senior Associate Editor position. He was happy being the Section Head of News, but Regina wanted him to be her second-in-command. Now he was overseeing all the other sections. He was a writer sure and knew how the other writing sections worked. But with so many sections the Times had...it was giving him a headache.

* * *

"Is this an editorial meeting or a management meeting?" asked Gold as he entered the meeting room with Sidney Glass on the 12th floor. Most of the members of the editorial board as well as the officers of the publishing company had their offices on the 12th floor, except for Gold that is. Storybrooke Times had grown from the newspaper of Storybrooke to one of the biggest publishing companies of the land. Besides their daily newspaper and weekly magazines, the Times had started branching out to publish children's books and young adult novels.

"Don't know," replied Glass. "I set my own managerial meeting later this week."

"Her Majesty wanted to hit two birds with one stone, Adam," said Albert Spencer, the man in charge of the legal department of the publishing company. "Guess she's in a hurry."

"Any legal matters on my end?" asked Gold as he rested his tea and papers on the table.

"Not yet," said Spencer leaning closer to Gold. "But I heard about the Greene piece, just give me a heads up. I don't want to deal with a lawsuit."

"Have Philip talk to Killian, he's the one pushing," replied Gold as two other people entered the meeting room in a heated argument.

Leopold White the business and finance section head glared at Friedrich Midas the head of the finance department.

"What are you arguing about now?" said Milah as she entered the room. "Honestly, I could hear you across the floor.

"Pretty sure it was business related," Rhea Maryweather Ghorm, head of human resources, remarked as she sat beside Milah. "Either numbers or taxes or the economy. Those are the only things those two can talk about and they still argue."

"You're in a cheery mood this morning Blue," said Gold. "What do you know that we don't?" Everyone called her Blue seeing as that was what her color of the day was usual. Nobody else saw her wearing anything else.

"I wanted to have a separate meeting but Her Majesty as usual wants to do things her way," replied Blue. "It's been six months since we started with the children and young adult publications and I think we should at least have a sole meeting for that. We can't keep rationing the people from the feature section to stand as editors for all the submissions we're getting."

"Have you talked to Mal?" asked Gold.

"Talked to me about what?" came the voice of Mallory Drake, features main section head. Features had a lot of smaller sections like the Entertainment , Health and Wellness, Art, Books, Technology, Fashion, Home and Gardening, Food and Restaurant, Youth and Children. All the smallers sections split the week as to when they are published except for the Entertainment section which is released everyday.

"How you feel about the use of your people as editors for the publishing arm of the company instead of them actually writing," said Friedrich. "They seem to be doing alright now. I don't see why we should hire more people."

"You try writing Friedrich and let's see you not blow a fuse," argued Leopold. "The feature writers may not get published on a daily basis but feature articles are longer and need more depth and research in them. The weekly load is enough time but with them reading submissions from prospective writers all over the country...they will miss deadlines."

"We've published how many books already since we ventured into it?" asked Friedrich.

"I believe we've had 15 since the last year," said Milah.

"And out of those 15 how many were best sellers?" pointed out Friedrich. "Oh...all of them."

"Well since they are selling, we have the money to hire more people," said Blue.

"What are we arguing about?" asked George Marco, the section head of arts and graphics, the man in charge of the layout of the paper as well as the different illustrations that other sections may or may not need as well as the comics part of the fun page under the Entertainment section.

"Nothing like an argument to start yet another editorial meeting," added Jefferson Matter, head of photography, as well as being Mallory's head for the fashion section. "Someone better call Her Majesty and of course our missing editor before they make babies."

"I heard that," said Regina, as she entered the board room with Robin Locksley, the sports section head. It was not a secret that the two had been dating but no one dared make a remark in front of the editor-in-chief. "Well at least we can start on time...where's David?"

"Sorry!" came the voice of the circulation manager, David Nolan, as he rushed into the room. He made a beeline towards Gold. "My article in your inbox, not late." Besides being the Circulations Manager, David was also the Gold's main political correspondent.

The meeting proceeded at its usual pace of updates from the different section heads, deadlines, circulation numbers. Updates on them as a corporation were also given which made Gold realize what Spencer said was true. Regina was pacing the meeting so she could get two things done in one go.

"Alright," said Regina as Blue made her piece again with regards to the lack of manpower for the new function of the publishing company. "My suggestion is this...we have a lot of people for features, especially for the Book, Youth and Children sections. What I am proposing is we shuffle some to the publishing department permanently, but of course those who are willing."

"That's actually not a bad plan," said Mallory. "The people who do read the submissions now are mostly from those three sections, specifically the Book section. I've been thinking of merging Art and Book with Youth and Children and have Mary Margaret head them."

"I'm guessing you already have someone in mind to promote as Book editor then?" asked Blue.

"Well she is known as The Librarian on the floor," came Mal's reply and even without glancing up at her Gold knew she was smiling his way.

"What do you think Gold?" asked Glass, and Gold knew everyone was smiling his way as he tried to be interested on his empty coffee cup.

"Why do I have a say in the matter anyway?" asked Gold. "It's Mal's department, not mine."

"Yeah but everything writing is your department," said Milah. "If Belle's going to be a book editor, she would need official training in a sense. We only have her as a subsection head. She'll need someone to teach her the works of being an editor."

Gold glared at his best friend who had a wide smile on her face. If Gold had matched her up with Killian, she was going to do the same thing.

"Could you all just wipe the smug look on your faces and finish this meeting?" hissed Gold. "I would love to eat before I have my section meeting."

"Mal, ask for volunteers who wish to change jobs and if we get to around 4 or 5 we do the shuffle," said Regina. "If not then we'll have to hire out. I think that's everything we need to discuss."

"Adam, I need the opinion article to know how many pages we have tomorrow," said Marco. "August says that's the only thing we need for the finished layout."

"Take it up with her," pointed Gold to Regina. "It's her piece."

"I forgot about that," said Regina, slightly annoyed with herself. "I can't with all the budget meetings I have to do with the board. Can someone else do it? What about your sub-heads Mal?"

"I'll ask," said Mal. "We have a section meeting later. What time do you need it George?"

"ASAP?" offered Marco. "By 5. Or else Leroy will have all our heads if we're late with the finished layout again for printing."

* * *

"Hey," said Mal as she poked her head into Gold's office. "Could you drop by our section meeting? It'll be very short. And I wanted you to be one to request the opinion article."

"Now?" asked Gold as he eyed his half-eaten lunch on his desk. More like a half-eaten snack turned lunch since he was busy with a lot of things.

"Yes," said Mal as he dragged Gold up and they slowly made their way to the elevator. "We're actually done with the meeting. Just last reminders from our Senior Associate Editor."

Gold groaned as Mal dragged him to the 10th floor's meeting room. The entire feature section team was inside, most were standing seeing as they were the biggest group in the paper.

"Alright sub-section heads report," said Mal.

"Entertainment is good to go," said Ruby Lucas. "We've distributed the gossip and movie reviews for the week so we won't go over page again."

"Fashion is alright as well," said Jefferson. "Two spreads as always so you won't blow a fuse."

"Motoring is all set for tomorrow," said Michael Tillman, editor for the motoring section and Gold's correspondent for anything related to the transportation section.

"What else do we have tomorrow?" asked Gold.

"Tech," replied Neal Cassidy. "Everything is up and running. Marco showed me the final layout and it looks alright. But I still say it should be news."

"New phones are not news Neal," said Mal. "Complain one more time and I ask Regina to make you focus fulltime on the website and not write anymore." Neal Cassidy was currently the one maintaining the Times' website with the help from the section heads. But in all honesty, someone needed to be hired to really focus on the website maintenance, another manager if you will. Neal would love to but he also was a born writer and so did not want to give up his post as Technology sub-sec head.

"What about our sections from our contributors?" asked Gold.

"Health and Wellness needs a few more things, doctors Whale and Archie are debating on who gets the space. But it'll be ok for before Thursday. Home, Gardening, Food and Restaurant are waiting for Gran's approval before Marco sends it to Leroy," replied Mal. "Anything else you'd like to bring up?"

"Youth and Children?" asked Gold to Mary Margaret, his previous correspondent for the Education Sector.

"All set for Saturday and Sunday release," replied Mary Margaret. "August's illustrations are already done as well. Just needs Marco's approval."

"Next week's art and book section are also done," said the familiar voice that never failed to put a small smile on Gold's face. Belle French, sub-sec head for sections Arts and Books. Gold could feel his heartbeat race when she smiled at him as he nodded.

"Well I guess that's that," said Mal. "But Adam has a request."

"Anyone willing to write an opinion and turn it in by 4?" asked Gold. "I know it's too much to ask but somebody couldn't accomplish it and we need it for tomorrow."

Silence. Gold was known to be very particular with deadlines and he would chew anyone alive if they turn in something passed the deadline, even if it was a few minutes or even seconds. One of the reasons why Gold was slightly feared in the Times.

"What's the theme?" asked Mary Margaret.

"Technology and its changes." relied Gold. "Sidney wrote on the pros and cons with regards to socializing and White wrote about fast paced businesses and markets. Regina was supposed to write about what part print plays in this new age."

"Does it have to be print like newspaper or it could be books?" asked Belle.

"Could be both."

"I'd gladly do it Mr. Gold," said Belle and Gold could see out of the corner of his eye Mal trying to hide her satisfied smirk. "I've ranted about things like for a while now, I might actually make a decent article from them."

"Thank you Ms. French," replied Gold with a small smile, desperately trying to fight his childish crush. "If you can give it to me by 4, I'd be able to look at it over before sending to Marco for the layout."

* * *

"Any other reason why you volunteered for that opinion article Belle?" asked Ruby as they all headed back to their respective desks.

"Aside from the fact that she has a huge crush on our dear Associate Editor you mean," pointed out Neal.

"Shut up," she hissed as she turned to see that Jefferson, Mal and Gold were already entering the elevator. "Honestly, do you want the entire Times to know?"

"I'm pretty sure the entire feature section knows." said Ruby. "Maybe even the people from News."

"Well…" began Mary Margaret. "I think they are taking the opposite approach?"

"The what?" asked Belle in surprise.

"Come on French!" exasperated Ruby. "It's obvious that you both like each other. If us here on the 10th are making you blush, those on the 11th might be doing the same thing to Gold."

"You know what," began Belle, taking her seat. "I have an article to write so I am going to ignore you lot."

"Pretty sure she's going to be worked up on it because she wants to impress," said Neal and duck the pen Belle threw his way.

* * *

"That went well," said Mal as she with Jefferson and Gold arrived back in Gold's office to see Milah, Blue, Sydney, Robin and Regina waiting for them.

"May I ask why you lot are here?" demanded Gold with a very annoyed look on his face. "If you don't mind, I do want to finish my lunch before my own section meeting."

"Well we wanted to grab lunch," said Milah. "And maybe ask how things went."

Gold glared at her which only made Milah smile. The woman turned to Blue. "We don't have any rules on inter-office relationships right?"

"You're asking a stupid question Milah," said Blue. "If we had one, then a lot of people in this paper would be fired already. Not to mention you and Her Majesty."

"You know I am rather growing fond of that nickname," said Regina.

"Why are you all here?" asked Gold again as he sat down.

"We wanted to grab something to eat," said Blue. "Come on Adam, we have plenty of time before your section meeting."

"Already eating," said Gold.

"That's not healthy," said Robin. "Pretty sure you need more than a sandwich for lunch Adam."

"Yeah you're thin as a piece of paper," added Sydney.

Gold glared at all of them, knowing full well why they wanted to take him out to lunch. "Won't make the same mistake again you lot."

"Oh come on it's obvious you like her," said Mallory. "Why don't you just make a move already? I'm sure Milah doesn't mind."

"Neither will Bae not unless you want him to set you up again with his headmistress," said Milah. "Cora sure was eager to meet you."

"Can you all just move out of my office so I can eat in peace?" asked Gold.

"Or we could go to the Rabbit Hole and maybe bump into a few of my sub-section heads," offered Mallory.

"Like I said I won't make the same mistake twice," glared Gold.

The group managed to drag Gold to have lunch with them and coincidentally enough some of the feature subsection heads were also having lunch in the same place. The two groups decided to merge their tables and Gold didn't know how but he was seated next to Belle French. Needless to say, he ate a whole lot more than what he had intended to because he had ordered everything Belle had suggested and shared lunch with her.

"Never imagined you'd order everything she liked from the menu," said Jefferson. "You were painfully obvious, Adam."

Gold glared at them. "Can a man eat in peace?"

"Not if he's name is Adam Gold," said Regina. "Come on. You won't have to pay. I'll treat you. Now that's something you don't hear everyday."

Gold rolled his eyes and looked at his half-eaten sandwich. A good meal couldn't hurt and the fact that he wasn't paying was actually a good incentive. "Fine, but if I see a woman with brown hair and blue eyes, I'm leaving."

* * *

"Our back-up for this week is Emma," said Gold as his section ended their meeting.

"Isn't it Killian's turn?" whined Emma. "I was just the back-up three weeks ago."

"I was last week Swan," replied Killian. "Besides last week there were loads of breaking stories and when you were the back-up nothing happened in the world."

"Nothing looks like it is going to happen and you'll end up writing a story at 2 in the morning," said David.

"I think you just jinxed it David," replied Elsa Frost said, Times' senior correspondent for disaster management and defence.

A back-up was a writer on call in case a breaking story would suddenly happen during untimely hours. The Times was known to be always on top of news so even if the story breaks at 2 or 3 in the morning, it'll still be headlines once the paper comes out. Leroy, the person in charge of the printing press would usually show his Grumpy side during times of a breaking news. Marco usually has a layout set aside for any breaking news story but he had put a word limit of 2,000 words.

"There is something in the international front," said Mulan. "If it's alright, I could be this week's back-up."

"Expecting something?" asked Gold.

"Lance said there was something brewing over in his area and sources are saying the same thing for Asia," replied Mulan. "Something is stirring up both UN and EU and it's basically at its tipping point."

"Alright, Mulan's backup then." said Gold. "Before we end, I would just like to discuss a very serious matter."

All eyes turned to their boss. Gold rarely spoke like that. The last time he did, Emma and Mary Margaret (who was still a news writer at that time) had gone against Peter Malcolm, Minister for Education and they had gotten into some trouble, legally speaking.

"By now I assume that everyone is working some sort of angle to add on Jones' little piece," said Gold and the room was silent. In all honesty, everyone was looking for a way to get Greene down especially during their last encounter with the man, one of their own, Ethan Dove, got admitted to the hospital. "I will ask everyone to exercise caution and to inform me or Albert on any action that might not be as straightforward as you think."

By that Gold meant consult him and the head of the legal department first before doing anything stupid or illegal.

"We won't be able to get him if we play nice," said Killian.

"I'm not asking you to play nice," began Gold. "I want to make sure I won't post bail on anyone of you...or worse."

Everybody cringed at that. Dove was beaten to almost death after following a lead. The man was still on leave due to Gold's persistence but the journalist wanted to get back to work to ruin Zozo Greene.

"I guess that's about it," said Gold and just as he said those words, a knock was heard and the door to the meeting room opened and admitted Belle French.

"I'm sorry to disturb but I just wanted to say that I've sent the opinion article," said Belle as she stuck her head into the room.

"No problem, Ms. French we were just finishing," said Gold as his entire staff tried not to smile and Gold fought the urge to glare at them all. "We could look over your piece back in my office, if that's alright with you."

"That'll be fine," said Belle.

"Alright you lot," addressed Gold to his staff. "I know for a fact you all have deadlines tomorrow so get to them."

The news team left the office, all greeting Belle and hiding their smirks as they left the room.

"What was that about?" asked Belle as she waited for Gold to gather his papers.

"They're all just cheeky since they all submitted before their deadlines," said Gold. "My staff can be a bit of a headache sometimes." Belle giggled earning her a smile in return. "I said I needed it by 4 not 3."

"Like I said, I've written some of it already because of my strong view on how print is not dying in this new age of technology," said Belle, her face turning a slight shade of red. "I guess they all spilled on the page."

Gold smiled as they headed to his office. He motioned for her to sit as he checked his inbox and found her article right on top. He looked over the file and was surprised to see that she had written over 10 pages.

"Did you even eat lunch Ms. French?" asked Gold as he read her piece. "I bet you've been working on this since your meeting ended."

"I had a ham and cheese sandwich that was very delicious," said Belle with a small smile.

"That settles it then," said Gold as he printed the piece and rose from his chair. "Why don't we head to that small coffee shop across the street so you can have another decent sandwich and we can negotiate what can be omitted or not from this piece. If it were up to me, I'd accept this but we do have other opinion articles and Marco might just kill me."

Belle laughed. "Lead the way Mr. Gold."

As they made their way out of his office and to the lift, Gold noticed the glances they were getting from his staff but Belle was oblivious to it.

"My staff need a lesson on subtly," thought Gold as the elevator arrived and they both stepped inside.

* * *

"Are my eyes deceiving me or are they heading somewhere together?" asked Emma as she, Killian and David walked up to Ashley's desk.

"I heard the words coffee shop and sandwich," said Ashley her arms raised in surrender. "I wasn't eavesdropping or anything."

"That's it?" asked Killian. "Come on Ashley, we need more than that."

"Yeah and when he yells at me I am going to blame you for something and let's see you enjoy Adam's company." replied Ashley.

Just then the elevator binged to signal another arrival to the floor and Mary Margaret and Ruby walked off and headed straight for them.

"Have you seen Belle?" asked Ruby.

"She went up here to see Adam," explained Mary Margaret but frowned when she saw that the office was empty.

"They headed to the coffee shop across the street," answered David.

"What?" chorused the two women from the Features section. Ruby immediately fished out her phone and fired a text to Belle.

"Blasted girl didn't even text me," said Ruby. "You guys know who asked who?"

"Adam offered," replied Ashley. "He said that Belle must have worked on the opinion piece and skipped lunch so he offered to go over the paper with her at the coffee shop. If you ask me, he just didn't want any of us to walk in and disturb them."

"Well at least he finally asked her out," said Killian. "Technically speaking."

"You're one to talk Jones," argued Emma. "And how long before you asked Milah out? Oh wait you didn't. Gold asked you to meet him for lunch but instead of seeing him there you saw Milah sitting on the table Gold had reserved for the two of you."

Killian glared at his partner while everyone else laughed at the memory. Gold told parties to meet for lunch, Killian to discuss a story and Milah to just have a chat but it ended up with Gold saying that he had an urgent meeting to attend too and Milah and Killian to have lunch by themselves. And as Gold puts it, the rest was history.

"We need to see what's going on," said Ruby impatiently. Belle was her best friend and no way in hell was she going to leave the two of them alone and wait for the girl to tell her what happened.

"Ruby, he's our boss," said Mary Margaret. "Besides, I do not want to be caught spying."

"Maybe we could ask some of the higher ops?" asked Ruby, looking at Killian, his eyes widening with realization.

"Hell no," said Killian. "I would love for my boss not to hate my guts."

"You're the boyfriend of his best friend, I highly doubt he'll kill you," said Ruby. "Come on, text Milah and tell her to go to the coffee shop to grab a cup of coffee or something."

"I don't think even Regina would dare do that," said David. "Face it Ruby, we'll just have to wait."

"Besides," said Mary Margaret. "This is Belle and Adam we're talking about. The pace of their relationship is slower than a snail's."

* * *

As soon as Blue heard what Leroy was telling Nova to tell Ruby, she went and marched up to Milah's office.

Milah was busy typing away on her computer and didn't even look up as the HR head planted herself on the chair in front of the woman's desk.

"I take it you haven't heard," said Blue as Milah continued to ignore her.

"Sort of busy at the moment, Blue," said Milah. "Give me a minute or so."

"You don't know?" asked Regina coming to the office. "And here I thought your boyfriend would inform you as soon as they left eh building."

This got Milah to look up and stare at the two women. "I am assuming you are talking about the same person or people but as you can see I am busy with-"

"Gold asked Belle out!" came the shout of Jefferson as he ran to the office. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"He what?!" asked Milah, standing up. "How? When?"

"Ruby just texted me that Gold took Belle to the shop across the street for something to eat while they look over that opinion article of hers," explained Jefferson. "Killian didn't tell you?"

"Oh he is going to now," said Milah as she fished out her phone and sent a text to her boyfriend. "But finally! Adam sure took his time." She eyed Regina. "Was this your plan all along? Why you didn't hand in your opinion piece in the first place."

"Contrary to popular belief," began Regina. "I do not manipulate the lives of the people who work for me."

"Yeah right," said Blue. "Come on Your Majesty, I'm sure you were thinking this might happen. You gave Adam the perfect opportunity."

"As much as I would love to take credit,'" said Regina. "I just didn't have the time. How was I supposed to know that it would be Belle who would take on the piece. Props to Adam for actually having the guts to ask her out. Unlike someone's boyfriend."

Milah glared at her as Blue and Jefferson laughed.

"Alright, knock it off," said Milah as she took off her glasses. "Who wants to do a bit of spying?"


	2. Chapter 2

"That's about it then," said Gold as he re-read the piece. They had crossed out a lot of paragraphs from Belle's original draft, much to the woman's dismay.

"What about that last part about the internet?" said Belle raised. "You said all internet matters should be disregarded since the piece is about print."

"Well it's still about print vs digital news so we can still keep it," said Gold as he drank the last of his tea. "Like I said, if I would have my way, I'd print this entire thing."

"Yeah and have Leroy out for my blood," began Belle. "No way. The piece is still very good even if you massacred it. Your reputation precedes you, Mr. Gold."

Gold frowned. "I hope what you've heard isn't anything false."

"Oh just that you turn into a beast when one misses a deadline and that you will edit an article to perfection, much like you did this one." At his face, Belle immediately added, "Don't get me wrong, Mr. Gold. I find that very inspiring. An article is still a literary piece and it is meant to engage the reader. We should never settle for anything mediocre, may it be a news or a feature article."

Gold smiled, glad to find someone as passionate about writing as he was. He made to reply but then his phone buzzed, seeing the caller he immediately pressed ignore and stuffed it back in his pocket.

"Who was that?" asked Belle, noting the expression on his face. It was that of pure terror.

"My aunt, well adoptive aunt," replied Gold and felt his phone buzz again. Unable to stop himself, he fished out his phone once again and groaned. Belle looked up at him, confused. "Make that aunts."

"Are they in trouble?" asked Belle.

Gold made to answer but then his phone buzzed again. "No, just being nosy."

"Nosy about what?" asked Belle, raising an eyebrow at him. Gold turned his phone off.

"My life in general." replied Gold. "Sorry about that. We should probably head back so I can give this to Marco. Thank you for doing this in such short notice, Ms. French."

"Thank you for the company, Mr. Gold," replied Belle as they stood.

"Call me Adam," replied Gold with a smile and was Belle wrong or was he blushing.

"Well then Adam," began Belle with a smile and she could feel her own face reddening slightly. "Please call me, Belle."

They walked silently back to their offices, both smiling like idiots.

"So how long have your aunts been together?" asked Belle, trying to avoid the silence that had settled between them.

"Oh they're not together," said Gold, understanding what Belle must have thought. "I have three adoptive aunts who are all siblings. They were the ones who found me as I was abandoned in a marketplace back in Scotland. They decided to raise me."

"Oh I am so sorry," said Belle, feeling stupid and inconsiderate for jumping to conclusions. "I just thought when you said aunts-"

"No harm done," said Gold. "Aunts Flo, Ana and Mary were delightful folk and took me in when they found as an infant. They raised me ever since and I've always seen them as my mothers but they still wish I call them my aunts."

"So they live in Scotland then?"

"Yes," replied Gold. "But they're currently touring the world. One big adventure while they still can. They're in Nepal right now, I think."

"Oh I would love to do that some day," said Belle. "See the world and all its beauty."

Gold made to comment about how beauty was already in front of him but stopped himself.

"Is that why you're a journalist?" asked Belle. "You want to know what happened to your parents?"

"Never really thought about it like that," replied Gold. "My family are my aunts and Bae of course. You can even count the Times as my family. My parents left even before I could think for myself. Why bother caring about them when they didn't about me?"

Belle's hand was suddenly on his shoulder. "I'm really sorry I brought it up."

"It's really alright," said Gold. "It doesn't really bother me because I love my life. I don't regret not knowing who my biological folks are."

"I admire you for that," said Belle. "I wish I could have met my mother." She paused and took a deep breathe. "She passed away when I was a young girl."

"I think it's my turn to apologize," said Gold. "It must be painful to think about it."

"Yes," began Belle. "But worth it because I can remember her and think about her. With that, it feels like she's alive within me."

Gold could only nod at how strong Belle was. He was about to comment when Belle's phone rang and she was surprised to see Mal calling her.

"Excuse me," said Belle and answered her phone. "Mal, anything up?"

"Hi Belle," said Mal. "Is Gold with you? He turned his phone off and three lovely women have been calling Ashley and Milah nonstop because they can't get hold of their nephew."

"I'll tell him," said Belle hanging up. To Gold, "You'd better turn your phone on."

Gold made a face that Belle clearly read as 'do I have to?' but did as she said and once his phone had signal, numerous messages appeared on screen. Belle noticed some where on all caps but Gold immediately pocketed his phone.

"We'd best get back to our offices then," said Gold and they both rushed back to their building. As they rode the lift, Belle could hear Gold's phone buzzing all the way but he did not move to answer it. Belle couldn't suppress the smile on her face.

The door's opened. "This is me," said Belle. "Thank you again for the snack and the company, Adam."

Gold smiled and bowed his head in response. "It was my pleasure, Belle. Until next time."

She made to reply but the doors chose that moment to close and she mentally cursed lift but sighed and made her way to her desk. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw all her colleagues watching her.

She sat behind her desk and continued to work, noticing how silent the floor was. Two can play that game so Belle remained focused on her computer until after a solid minute Ruby leaned on her desk.

"Out with it French," demanded Ruby.

"Good afternoon to you too Ruby," said Belle, not lifting her gaze from her monitor. "Lovely afternoon we're having."

"Oh my god," gasped Ruby. "You kissed him."

"I did not!" said Belle, glaring at her friend. "We just ate and edited the article to meet the required word limit and talked."

"And that stupid grin on your face when you left the lift was what exactly?" asked Ruby, a teasing smile on her face. "Do we have another date?"

"None of your business, Lucas," said Belle as she got up and made her way to the printer. "Now if you don't mind I have work to do."

"You mean fantasize about your crush," said Ruby with a triumphant smile. "I will get the story out of you Belle French. I am the head of the entertainment section and gossip is my trade."

"My personal life is not for the Entertainment section, Ruby," hissed Belle as she sat back down on her desk.

"Come on," urged Ruby. "Just tell me what happened. I mean it's not everyday your best friend gets asked out by your boss."

"It was not a date," said Belle, typing away on her computer. "It was technically a meeting to fix the opinion article. We were on a deadline."

"But you couldn't have done that here?" asked Ruby, a raised eyebrow.

"People would have constantly disturbed us for sure," said Belle. "You always said that whenever you edit articles you want nobody around so you won't break your streak."

"That's different," argued Ruby but knew Belle had a point.

"No it is not," said Belle. "It's exactly the same thing. So if you don't mind, I have another section to fix so I won't be behind."

"One of these days French," warned Ruby. "I am going to get a straight answer from you."

"Never," said Belle with a smile.

* * *

"Who is this woman?"

"Is she beautiful?"

"How old is she?"

"Have you kissed her yet?"

"Did you ask her out on another date?"

"Do you love her?"

Gold sighed and held the phone a good centimeter or two from his ear. "If you would just stop talking all at once, you might just get an answer or two from me." Gold mentally cursed Milah for he perfectly knew that it was her who told his three aunts that he had gone out with Belle. It wasn't even a date but more like a meeting...just outside the office so his annoying colleagues wouldn't bother him.

The lift opened to his floor and he stepped out, the phone still a good distance from his head. He could hear his aunts passing the phone from one another. Why he ever thought that introducing his aunts to modern technology was a good idea was beyond him?

Ashley did the intelligent thing and did not speak as he walked passed her desk and shut the door to his office which was already occupied by a sheepish looking Milah, who sat on one of the chairs opposite his desk. He glared at her but he had more pressing issues that needed his attention.

"She's a sub-section head at the Times, Aunt Flo," said Gold as he finally managed to get one question at a time from his aunts, who appeared to have set the phone down and turned on the speakerphone. "Yes, Aunt Mary, she's beautiful inside and out. No, Aunt Flo, I am older than her. No, Aunt Mary, I have not kissed her and no I am not adding the word 'yet' to that. No, Aunt Flo, contrary to what Milah has told you, this was not a date."

"And what about my question sweetheart?" asked his Aunt Ana. Out of the three sisters, Aunt Ana was always the level headed one, the peace keeper of the constant bickerings and squabbles of her two sisters. Being the middle child, Aunt Ana had always played the mediator and Gold admired her patience.

"I…" began Gold but dropped himself on his chair and leaned back, sighing. "I don't know...I haven't felt like this about anyone before."

He saw Milah smile and turned to her. What he felt for Milah was love yes but in a different sense that what he was feeling for Belle. He loved Milah yes, wanted her to be happy, wanted to strangle any man that comes and breaks her heart (which he knew Killian wouldn't dare do), wanted what's best for her. For Belle...he wanted her to have his heart.

"There's your answer then," said Aunt Ana. "Now be a good lad and hand me over to Milah."

Gold made to ask but just sighed and handed the phone to Milah and then buried his face in his hands. The late lunch/snack at the coffee shop turned his day into a brilliant one. Sure he was facing the aftermath of turning his phone off and of Milah telling his aunts...but every second alone with Belle had been worth it.

"Oh don't worry, I'll make sure he won't screw it up," he heard Milah say and she ended the call and placed his phone on his desk. "So?"

Gold lifted his head from his hands and glared at her. Milah's smile only widened. "This is payback you know."

"You and Killian are together Milah, I should be getting a car or a boat," said Gold taking his phone and shifting to focus on his computer. "Not my best friend ratting me out to my mothers like some teenaged boy."

"If you must now," began Milah. "They had called your office and found that you were out. Then they called me. I just told them you were eating with someone and they concluded on their own. I did not rat you out."

"And is there a reason why you are in my office, then?" asked Gold, studying her as she leaned back on her chair.

"Come on, Adam," said Milah. "Spill. What happened on your date?"

"It was not a date," said Gold, a little loudly than he intended to and noticed the shadows behind his office door. With a grunt, he stood and rather forcefully opened his office door to see most of his staff trying to eavesdrop. "If I don't have any of your articles by the end of the day, I will not sign off on any meal reimbursements for a year and I will double all your word limits."

The news staff scrambled back to their desks as Gold slammed his office door.

"For a bunch of investigative journalists, you would think they would find a more subtle way to get the information they wanted," said Milah with a smile as Gold laid himself on his office couch. "You alright?"

Gold covered his face with his hands once again. "I don't know how to do this."

Milah rolled her eyes. "Adam, what the hell are you talking about?"

Gold moved his hands to glare at her. "Come on, Milah. We've known each other how long and have you ever seen me court someone before?"

"You went out on a couple of dates," countered Milah.

"That's because you dragged me into doing double dates with you," argued Gold. "No one has ever showed interest in me...romantically speaking."

"Except our drunken night together," said Milah, her tone trying to get Gold to lighten up. "Adam, you do know you are an extremely attractive man."

"Old man," corrected Gold as he covered his face once again.

"Oh so what am I to Killian?" asked Milah. "A cougar? Love doesn't have boundaries, Adam. You told me that."

"Why am I even entertaining this idea, Mil?" asked Gold, his face still covered. "She deserves someone far better than who I am."

"Who you are Adam is a man full of love," said Milah. "What more could she ask for?"

"I…" Gold sighed and finally sat up on the couch and Milah joined him. "I just...I don't know what I'm supposed to do."

"Well," began Milah, placing a hand to his chest. "Instead of using that brain of yours, listen to this one. Listen to your heart, Gold. You'll find your answer."

* * *

"Anything else today, Wendy?" asked Peter Malcolm as he passed her desk on the way to his office.

"None, minister," began Wendy but immediately grabbed his arm. "But there is someone waiting for you inside your office."

Peter made to ask who but the fear on her face already told him who was waiting. He nodded and grasped the doorknob before taking a deep breathe and opening the enough the man sat on his on own office chair, his feet propped up on his desk, "Mr. Greene, what can I do for you?"

"Ah, Peter," said Zozo Greene, sitting up in Peter's chair and standing to shake the man's hand. "I just wanted a chat. You know how things are with the coming election." Peter of course knew about Greene's plans to move from the private sector and into politics, a move that a lot of people from the media found suspicious. Greene has been known to be somewhat of an under the table operator and with him becoming a politician, a warning bell was sounding, very loudly.

"Yes, I believe so," said Peter. Although he himself wasn't thinking about it, but rather thinking about finally hanging up his political agenda and leaving the public eye.

"You see Peter," began Greene. "I am in talks with a lot of people, colleagues if you will. Who I know supports my own ideals and beliefs."

It took a lot of Peter's self-restraint not to scoff at the man. Was it really that or was it because Greene had something to blackmail them with. Whatever it was, Peter Malcolm did not want anything to do with it.

"Well, Mr. Greene," began Peter, he walked towards his chair and sat on it. "I've made it clear that my life in politics is ending once election time comes."

"Of course," replied Greene. "The quiet life. Something I know is not meant for me. But I would love to have your support in my endeavors."

"I hardly think my support will help you," replied Peter. "I can hardly call myself a strong political player Mr. Greene. I just want to enjoy my life. The rest of it anyway."

"And of course Felix shares the same dream," said Greene with a smile and Peter glared at him.

"Please leave my partner out of this," said Peter.

"I will," said Greene with a sly smile. "Of course, we wouldn't want Felix to know a certain aspect of your past now do we Mr. Malcolm."

Peter's eyes widened but tried to suppress his reaction just as quickly. How did Greene know about that? "I have no idea what you are talking about."

"Nothing is a kept a secret forever Peter," said Greene with a smile. "You wouldn't want your dear Felix to know about him."

"What do you want?" hissed Peter, standing so he and Greene were on equal level.

"Like I said," began Greene walking towards the door. "I need your support. You give me that and we keep things buried. Felix doesn't need to find out. He doesn't need to find out."

Peter glared at him which only made Greene laugh. "Do we have a deal?"

Peter continued to glare at him and Greene smiled. "I'll be in touch then Mr. Malcolm."

Greene left the office but Peter continued to glare at where the man stood last.

A soft knock then Wendy entered his office. "Are you alright?"

"Please call your brothers," whispered Peter. "Greene knows." Wendy's eyes widened.

"Greene wouldn't dare harm him," began Wendy.

"I don't care about him, Wendy!" said Peter. "I care about making sure Felix does not find out."

"Then why did you bother with the DNA test, Peter," said Wendy. "You care about him."

"I lost that right, Wendy," said Peter. "I knew but I left and cut off all ties. Then I learn years later that she had died."

"But you still made the effort to find out, Peter," said Wendy.

"I just wanted to know if I was right or not," said Peter. "It was never about him. I don't care about him, never had. What I want to know is how the hell did Greene find out?!"

"I'll call them," said Wendy. "But he will eventually find out Peter. Him and Felix."

"Not while I'm alive." replied Peter. "That night was a mistake."

"And you deal with it by forgetting about it, like it never happened?" asked Wendy. "You have a child, Peter. You can't run away from that."

"I have for the past 38 years," answered Peter. "I was never meant to be a father."

"Maybe you're right," hissed Wendy. "Look how your child turned out, very well without you." She slammed the door on her way out and Peter collapsed on his chair, his head in his hands. Peter of course never forgot about his child. The thought never escaped his head every single day since he left the woman pregnant. He hadn't known that the woman had died at childbirth and that the child was left in the marketplace by Vivienne's mother.

Vivienne. Peter could say that she was the only woman he had loved. But things weren't that so simple in his life. The ring of his phone distracted Peter from his thoughts and saw the last person he currently wanted to talk to. He sighed and answered.

"Hello Felix, how are you?"

* * *

"I take that it went well."

Zozo smiled as he got into his car and motioned for his chauffeur to drive them home. "Better than I imagined. Who knew our little family mishaps would eventually become useful."

"You can thank my daughter for that," replied Mrs. Greene. "Although, I would prefer we don't say anything to Zelena."

"Of course," replied Zozo. "The girl would be crushed to know that she has this infatuation with her step-nephew."

A silence settled between them as they made their way home. Zozo Greene was a powerful man but when it comes down to it, but it was his wife who made everything possible. Without her, well Zozo would be nothing.

"You've never really told me anything else about your ex-lover and daughter, my dear," began Zozo. "Besides the fact that we can use a certain incident about them to our advantage."

"And I would prefer to keep it that way," replied Mrs. Greene. "I don't ask about Zelena's mother now do I? I expect the same courtesy."

Zozo cringed at that. To be honest, he never felt anything for the woman. Glinda White was a big player in the private sector once upon a time but she eventually lost everything and Zozo would not have that. He took the opportunity to leave and file for divorce, ensuring that White lost everything. Zozo of course knew that Glinda would eventually try to take back everything that she had lost (She would insist that Zozo took everything from her, which was true.) so he made sure Glinda White was a problem that was dealt with accordingly. And then of course he met the new Mrs. Greene.

"As you wish," said Zozo. "I just want to make sure you don't care for the lad. He is an annoying little prick sometimes. I had hoped that with recent events, he would stop digging."

"He'll stop once he has what he wants," replied Mrs. Greene. "Just like his grandfather. But if he interferes with our plans, then we interfere with his life."

Zozo smiled and took her hand. "You are absolutely diabolical my dear."

"The darkest of all, my dear Zozo. The darkest of all."

* * *

"How was your day?" asked Gold as his son got into his car. Gold had asked Milah to drive him to the shop so he could get his car. Bae's bike would be done the day after tomorrow so he was still riding with his father.

"Very uneventful," replied Bae. "Headmistress Hart is asking about you as usual. Have I apologized enough about that?"

"No," said Gold as he drove them home. "Next time you set me up on chaperoning duties, just don't."

"Hey, Headmistress Hart is ok," said Bae and Gold made a face. That was far from the word he was looking for to describe the woman. "Ok fine, she has her crazy moments like she can actually turn her heart on and off or her ability to care...but again she has her moments."

"Can we please not talk about Cora Hart," said Gold. "It was bad enough I had to spend time with her during that school dance because you volunteered me to be a chaperone."

"Nobody wanted to do it," explained Bae.

"I could guess why," said Gold. Headmistress Hart had considered the chaperoning a date and Gold had to endure an entire night, sharing a table with Cora Hart.

"Enough about me," said Bae. "How was your Monday?"

The tone of voice already told Gold that his son knew. Two can play that game.

"Just an ordinary Monday," said Gold, his gaze on the road. "Nothing special."

"Well something must have happened because grams Flo, Ana and Mary called me," said Bae, looking at his father suspiciously. Care to share? Or should I call mom?"

"You're a real imp aren't you Bae," said Gold as he made the turn to their street.

"Come on dad," said Bae with a smile. "Spill."

"I just had a late lunch meeting with another sub-section head," said Gold. "I turned my phone off because I didn't want to be disturbed."

"But why would that cause grams, grams and grams to call me," asked Bae.

"Because your mother ratted me out," said Gold as he parked his car in their garage.

"Dad," whined Bae. "Just tell me already. Who did you have your meeting with?"

"The art and book section sub-head," replied Gold as he turned the engine off. "I don't think you know-"

"Belle, of course I do," replied Bae with a conniving smile that made Gold groaned. He knew that look too well. "Why did you have to turn off your phone?"

"I turned it off for a short while Bae," explained Gold. "It wasn't like I turned it off for an hour or so, it was more like 5-10 minutes."

"And?" pushed Bae. "Come on dad, I'm 18 not 8."

"We just edited an article," defended Gold.

"Yeah and you had the thought of shutting your phone because you didn't want to be disturbed. Tell me, you had this meeting in the office or you guys went somewhere else?"

Bae laughed at the expression on his father's face. "Yeah, dad. Got you. You like Belle. No, I'd wager you love, her."

"Bae…" began Gold but in all truth he didn't know what to say. Gold knew his son knew him better than anyone, even better than himself. "Alright, let's say I do have feelings for her-"

"Don't dare say 'but' dad," warned Bae. "I've seen the way Belle looks at you. I'm pretty sure the feeling is mutual."

"Come on Bae," said Gold. "She's young and attractive and I'm an old man who doesn't even register in the looks department."

"Okay, I may be the more good looking man in the family but don't sell yourself short, dad," said Bae giving his father a very cheeky smile. "But other than moderately good looking, you are smart and come on who wouldn't fall for that accent."

"Baelfire Neal Gold, you are spending way too much time with Killian, Neal and Jefferson," reprimanded his father. "Stop being an imp or else you aren't getting any dinner."

"Alright, alright," said Bae, arms raised in surrender. "But please tell me you are going to make a move right? Not just put this aside and ignore her. I could give you tips."

"Get upstairs and clean up before I disown you," threatened Gold as Bae only grinned and ran up the stairs.

"What did I do to have my own son as my wingman?" complained Gold as he headed to the kitchen listening to his son's laughter as the boy went to his room to clean up.


	3. Chapter 3

Dr. Archibald Hopper wasn't a big fan of social gatherings. He was a psychiatrist and understood why he prefered his own quiet office than a room full of activity. But it doesn't give him an excuse to miss the hospital's program on the new building being built all thanks to the generous donation of Mr. Zozo Greene.

The program in question was a very small one, consisting of a few doctors of Storybrooke General, some other prominent figures of society and of course writers of the Times.

"I see I'm not the only one not in his comfort zone," whispered a voice as a man stood beside Archie.

Archie smiled and focused on the stage as Dr. Victor Whale welcomed their benefactor Zozo Green to the stage.

"Sometimes we need to step out of our comfort zone to grow, Adam," replied Archie finally turning to his boss in the Times. "I see that our little event has gotten your attention."

"Anything he does gets my attention," replied Gold. "And I would like to keep an eye on things especially when Zozo Greene is concerned."

"How's Ethan?" asked Archie as he paid no attention whatsoever to Greene's speech, more intrigued with the man standing by him. At the corner of his eye, he could see Victor walking their way.

"He says he's fine but I know he's still in pain," replied Gold. "He has two weeks left and the idiot wants to get back to work right now, totally forgetting that he almost died a few weeks ago."

"I'm pretty sure he's just bored," said Victor finally standing by them. "I remember correctly someone being like that when he was brought to the hospital because of a viral infection."

"Different circumstances," said Gold. "I didn't almost die, Victor."

"Yeah but you were just as insufferable as Ethan was," fired back Victor with a smile that earned him a glare. He then turned to look at Greene. "What's your take on this little showcase?"

"Getting favorable opinion," said Gold. "Election time is coming. He needs to have a clean slate if he wants to win at all. And everyone is already suspicious of what he truly wishes to achieve."

"Everyone or you?" asked Victor. "Don't get me wrong, I don't trust the man myself but a lot of people aren't exactly seeing the bad in him."

"That's why the media exist Dr. Whale," said Gold with a sly smile. "We're here to inform people, help them make an educated choice."

Victor snorted as everyone else clapped the conclusion of Greene's speech. "Well I just hope I don't see anymore of my colleagues in the ER in the pursuit of information."

"You and me both," replied Gold as he eyed Zozo Greene who surprisingly walked towards them.

"Thank you for that superb introduction Dr. Whale," said Greene as he offered his hand to the head of trauma for the hospital. "Very inspired."

"My pleasure," said Whale with a small smile, his tone different from his earlier conversation with Gold and Archie. "If you'll excuse me, Dr. Hopper and I have to see to flow of the program."

"We do?" asked Archie, an eyebrow raised and Whale just took his arm and dragged him elsewhere, knowing that it would be safer for the two of them not to take part in the ensuing conversation.

"I'm surprised to see you here, Adam," said Greene, turning to the younger man. "Isn't a fundraising event usually a job for one of your correspondents and not a job for a Senior Editor?"

"My writers are busy following a lead," said Gold. "Besides, free food is not something I turn down."

"Really?" said Greene with a smile that disturbed Gold to his bone. The man was up to something and looks like Gold had just gotten himself trapped. "Then why don't I treat your for lunch tomorrow? Get some things out in the open."

"I'm a news writer Mr. Greene," said Gold. "I don't do features on people, particularly those who have openly expressed their intentions for the coming election."

"I'm sure you can do that for your Sunday magazine," answered Gold. "Besides, doesn't the Times feature the candidates one by one to help the public decide on who they should vote for. I'd gladly volunteer to be the first one."

Gold eyed the man. There was some sort of triumphant smile on Greene's face that Gold wished to wipe off. There's was no way that he would let Greene have the last word.

"I'll have to inform my editor of your request," said Gold, a smile forming on his own face. "But I'm sure we can come to an agreement although it might not be as soon as tomorrow, Mr. Greene."

"Of course," replied Greene, his voice losing a slight beat in them. "Protocol must be followed. But I'm sure Ms. Mills would gladly accept my offer for an interview."

"Oh is that what it was," said Gold. "I thought it was more of damage control on your part."

Greene's expression faltered and Gold knew he had the man. "If you'll excuse me Mr. Greene, I have to discuss certain matters with Drs. Hopper and Whale. Good day."

Gold walked away before Greene could reply and went towards Archie and Victor who were both watching the conversation.

"What did I just say about not wanting to see my friends land themselves in the ER?" hissed Victor as Gold stood beside them.

"He had it coming," said Gold, as he took the drink Archie offered. "Thinks he can just move us like were pawns in his game. No bloody way. He wants to have an interview, we do it in our time and conditions."

"You're right about the damage control thing," said Archie. "Everyone of course is theorizing about the attack on Ethan and if Greene were to have a casual conversation with people from the media, it would of course decrease the finger on him."

"Like we can prove anything," said Gold. "But hopefully we will before he can hide behind his position."

"And I hope that it won't take a couple of journalists in hospital beds to do it," added Whale.

* * *

"I never thought eating without prying eyes was difficult," said Gold as he ate his fries, earning him a giggle from Belle as they ate their lunch in his car at the parking lot of the building.

"Yes well our colleagues must be at their wits ends figuring out where we've gone," replied Belle. It had been two weeks since their impromptu snack at the cafe and ever since Gold has had the courage to always ask if Belle was free to either have a late breakfast, lunch or afternoon snack with him.

Of course they have now considered them as dates, to each other but not saying that to their colleagues faces.

"Well it's either that or I kill the next person who shares a table with us," replied Gold. First it had been Milah and Killian who sat with them at the cafeteria on the second time Gold had asked Belle to eat with him. Then it had been Ruby and Jefferson, when Belle and Gold had went back to the cafe to have coffee one morning. Followed by Regina, Robin, Sydney and Mal when Gold and Belle headed to the Rabbit Hole for lunch.

"I'm really torn from telling them that we are dating," began Belle. "But I know for sure that if I do tell them, the constant interruptions will just increase."

"Yes, I think that's about right," said Gold, putting the last bit of his burger in his mouth. "Maybe I should up the game then."

Belle gave him a confused glance but a smile was on her face. "And what would you have in mind Mr. Gold?"

"Well," began Gold. "I could invite you over to my house for dinner. I am a fine cook if I don't say so myself and it'll be without us sneaking around and making sure we're not being followed by our nosy colleagues as we eat a meal together."

"Plus I get to see your imp of a son," replied Belle. "But I don't think that qualifies as a date though."

"Yes well if that doesn't count as a date then this is only our second," replied Gold. "Seeing as the meals we've had over the past two weeks have been mostly with our annoying colleagues and their smug faces."

"Well that will make dinner at your house the third one," said Belle, her tone playful. "And third time's the charm...maybe you'll get a reward."

Gold raised an eyebrow. "And what reward do you have in mind Ms. French?"

"You'll have to find out tomorrow night, Mr. Gold," replied Belle as she finished her own burger. "Do you have to go back to your office already? Can't we stay just a bit longer?"

"Don't have anything pending for another hour or so," said Gold. "I'm all yours."

"Oh you'll regret saying that," teased Belle. "You might just be in for a grand inquisition."

"By all means," offered Gold. "Let's have a deal. We both take turns asking the question. Although I should warn you, I am a news writer."

"Deal," said Belle. "May I go first?" Gold nodded. "Everyone in the Feature Section would tease me about you...was your own section doing the same thing?"

"Yes," said Gold. "I'm actually surprised that you didn't see it seeing as my staff fails in subtly."

"Well the feature section isn't known for it as well," defended Belle. "Meaning you should have seen it as well."

"I do have a reputation Belle," said Gold. "I don't think the both sections would actually annoy me about my feelings for you. The board on the other hand have been nothing but insufferable."

Belle laughed as she remembered Gold's tale about their meeting the day they went to the cafe. How Gold didn't know where he got the courage from and asked Belle to share a late snack with him and playfully tease about having a next time just as the lift doors closed.

"Well I am glad that they manage to annoy you so much that you asked me to have a sandwich with you," said Belle. "Your turn."

"Besides writing, what else do you love to do?" asked Gold and Belle turned to him.

"Really? You brag about your great interviewing skills and that's your question?" asked Belle, smiling.

"Were you expecting a great philosophical question about why we exist Ms. French?" asked Gold with a smile.

Belle lightly nudged him on the shoulder but laughed all the same. "Well when I'm not writing, I actually play pool to relieve myself of stress. I have a table back in my flat."

"You should probably teach me how to play," said Gold, impressed. "I'm more of a football guy myself, not to mention chess."

"Now why am I not surprised with the chess part," said Belle. "But seriously? You and football? I would never have guessed."

"If you must know, I was a centre forward and a darn good one," said Gold, feigning to be hurt by Belle's words. "Ask Milah if you don't believe me."

"I do believe you," said Belle, and Gold noted how she observed his physique which resulted in both of them blushing.

Gold cleared his throat. "Your turn."

"How come you and Milah decided to keep Bae?" asked Belle and Gold had to smile. That question has been asked dozens of times but he never grows tired of it.

"Because we love each other but not in that way," said Gold. "And we love the child we were going to bring to this world. That night was a mistake because we were both drunk and thought everyone else was thinking we were hooking up, might as well justify their suspicions. But what came out of it was a blessing."

"I'm glad you did," said Belle with a smile. "Bae is a true treasure."

"We actually were afraid what the other wanted," remembered Gold. "I said we both write down what we wanted on a piece of paper and hand it to each other. We both wrote we wanted to keep it and it was the greatest thing that has happened in my life."

"And then you introduced her to Killian," said Belle.

"Well," began Gold. "Killain was always a man who annoyed be to no ends and I just met him. I knew he and Milah would be great together. Only problem is, Killian was much of an egotistical jerk that he is and was to afraid to even talk to her."

"So you had to arrange the first date yourself," finished Belle.

"If Emma hadn't pushed him, I think I would have arranged the second date as well," said Gold. "Jones took about 3 weeks before he could speak to Milah again."

"I wished I had someone like that," said Belle. "Someone I could consider a sibling."

It was true that Gold regarded Milah like a younger sister and Milah also had a sibling instinct when it came to him. "What about Ruby?"

"She is the closest thing I have to a sister," said Belle, with a smile. "The sister you wished would get her nose out of your business."

They laughed and Belle pointed out that it was his turn. "Why did you leave Australia?"

"I wanted to have an adventure," replied Belle, looking outside the car window. Sure the view was the building parking lot but Gold knew she was seeing something else. "My father wasn't supportive of it at first but he eventually let me decide what I wanted to do with my own life. He's more of a man of science you know. Inventing and tinkering with things. I was always a reader and had my head in the clouds most days."

"Working for the Times is an adventure?" asked Gold. "I think we have different definitions of the word, Belle."

Belle laughed and playfully slapped his arm. "Remember what I told you when we talked about your aunts? I want to do that. See the world and all it's glory. But of course I need to finance a trip around the world. So when I saw the vacancy for the Times, I left my post at the library and tried my luck. I'm glad Mallory thought I was a decent writer. And the rest as you say is history."

"You're more than just a decent writer Belle," replied Gold, remembering that Belle was up for the book editor post that Mallory still has not announced to her section which was making Blue impatient.

"Thanks," replied Belle with a smile and a slight blush. "I'm turning the tables then. Why did you leave Scotland?"

"Well that was more of an act of rebellion," replied Gold. "My aunts adore me and I them but I wanted to try being independent for a change so when Milah suggested we look for universities abroad, I jumped at the opportunity. I still visit my aunts from time to time but I just grew to love this place and is now my home."

"I know what you mean," began Belle. "When I first got the job here, I just wanted to save money so I could travel...but then it just felt right to be here. Don't get me wrong. I still want to see the world. But I'd love to do it some other time…" _When I can travel with someone who means the world to me_ , Belle added in her head.

"I've ran out of questions," began Gold. "Why don't you go again."

"Alright," replied Belle. "What's one thing you want to do before you die?"

Gold raised an eyebrow at her. "Just answer the question."

"Well…" said Gold, thinking about it. There was really nothing exciting in his life that he would like to do. "I don't know...see Bae have his own child so he'll know what I had to endure with him."

"Come on," probed Belle. "Something for yourself. Like some crazy dream that you haven't done given your money and numerous awards."

Gold playfully scoffed at her. Yes he had won different prizes for his writing and had managed to save a lot of money because of it...but he wasn't going to go crazy and buy a sports car or a mansion to live in.

"Come on," chided Belle. "There must be one thing you wanted to do as a kid. Fly a plane, walk on the moon."

 _Marry you._

"Well," said Gold. "I wanted to do magic." Belle's eyes widened and prompted Gold to continue. "I wanted to learn how to create that illusion you know...make kids believe that there is that sort of wonder and amazement in the world."

"You and magician," began Belle. "Again something that I never suspected. You're certainly full of surprises today."

"Maybe my next answer will surprise you as well," said Gold, suddenly realising another dream. "I've always dreamed having my own restaurant. Like a small side cafe or bakery."

"Now I'm more excited to have dinner in your house," said Belle. "Still my turn?" Gold nodded. "Besides writing and cooking, any other hidden talents?"

Gold smiled. "Maybe you'll just have to wait and see, Ms. French."

"Come on," said Belle, glaring at him. "You can't possibly expect me to take that as an answer."

"Yes you will because now I have a question," said Gold which only made Belle pout but nod her head to tell Gold to continue. "Do you ever think about opening up your own library or bookstore?"

"If ever I do, I'd imagine it would be like the one in the movie 'You've Got Mail'," answered Belle. "A little shop around the corner where I know each and every book and which to recommend people. But I'd probably be the worst person to do that because I would end up buying everything."

Gold laughed and could just picture Belle buying her own stocks or as a librarian, borrowing all the books. "I dare say, now I understand why they call you the Librarian in your section's floor."

Belle made to reply but then both their phones buzzed and Gold groaned. "Looks like we're being summoned."

Gold nodded. "Well it was great while it lasted. Are we heading to the house together tomorrow or you want to go home first."

"I think riding together is the best option," replied Belle as they both exited the car. "I tend to get lost most of the time when I'm alone."

"Well then Ms. French," began Gold, offering his arm for her to take. "Your chariot will await you here tomorrow afternoon."

* * *

"It's been two weeks and we've got nothing!" complained Killian as he slammed the papers he had on his desk. "I thought we had finally manage to get Hodor on murder charges but Greene still managed to cover it up."

"There's no point in taking your anger out on your desk, Jones," fired back Emma. "Sit and let's go over it again."

"Like we bloody can, Swan," said Killian, kicking his desk. "We have nothing. All those days of looking and trying and we come up with nothing."

"Emma's right Killian," began David. "We won't get anywhere with losing our cool. Just take a breather alright."

"How can we possibly take a breather when Greene is lounging somewhere thinking that he's going to get away with hurting our friend." demanded Killian as he got into David's personal space.

"Jones," came the warning call and the trio turned to see Gold walking from his office to their desks. "May I ask why you are gracing us with your loud voice at this time of day?"

"Sorry, boss," began Killian, finally doing as he was told and sank down on his desk chair. "It's just so bloody frustrating."

Gold watched his three correspondents and their defeated postures. "Maybe we're going about this the wrong way."

"What do you mean?" asked David, raising his head to study their editor. "We've looked at every possible angle to Greene's current activities."

"That's the thing Nolan," said Gold. "Greene is an expert weasel now. But he wasn't always," he studied his three top writers and was not at all surprised when it was Emma who finally caught his drift.

"When he was starting," said Emma, both men turning to her. "When Greene was just beginning his reign of terror and corruption, he wasn't an expert in tying loose ends. He would have made a small mistake, forgot a small detail. That's where we have to look."

"Someone give Ms. Swan a prize," said Gold with a small smile and a hint of pride. "Greene wasn't always squeaky clean. It's not about turning each and every angle now, it's about going back in time and looking at the past. That's what you haven't done."

"We're going old school!" said David excitedly which made Gold raise an eyebrow at him. "Not that I'm saying you're old or anything or that…"

"Can it Prince Charming," said Killian with a smile. "Before you say anything else that'll get you fired."

"I will have you know," began Gold leaning on the desk in front of Killian's. "The best research is the one where you go to the archives and rummage through the past documents there."

"You mean go through years of dust and who knows what other things are down there," said David.

"I do believe, David," began Gold, a mischievous smile on his face. "That you've volunteered to be the first person to do research downstairs. I might just join you after my meeting with Sydney." Gold then turned and walked toward his office where Sydney now stood just outside his door.

"Which means," said Emma, exchanging a smile with Killian. "That you have to be down there until he arrives."

David let his head drop down on his desk. There goes his plans with Mary Margaret.

* * *

"Adam, it's dinner not a bloody banquet," said Milah as Gold placed yet another plate of whatever concoction the man was trying to make in front of her. Milah always had dinner with Gold and Bae at least once a week to give the boy some sort of family dinner.

Tonight found Milah staying over as Gold had asked her help in deciding what meal to serve Belle. Bae had homework but said that he would join them as soon as he had finished them.

"i thought you said you were going to help," hissed Gold as he glared at her over his shoulder, most of his attention still on the stove in front of him.

"I am helping!" said Milah. "Relax and cook something special not extravagant. Something simple, so you'll still have time to also make dessert."

"Am I cooking for Belle or for you?" asked Gold with now an amused look. 'Who said anything about dessert?"

"You want her to stay longer in your house right?" said Milah with a grin. "Appetizer, main course and then dessert and maybe time for tea and some chit chat. Then maybe it'll be too late for her to go home."

"There's an 18 year old boy living in the house," growled Gold, not liking the turn of the conversation.

"No longer boy don't you think?" said Bae, choosing the perfect time to enter the kitchen. "Besides, I can sleep with my headset on so I won't hear."

Milah barked with laughter as Gold's face reddened. "Oh come on Dad, it's not I don't know these things already."

Gold opened his mouth to retort but could not form any coherent reply so he just turned back to the stove as Milah's laughed harder.

"He got you there, Adam," said Milah. "Looks like Bae is turning to be a smart ass just like his father."

"Oh mom," began Bae, draping an arm around her shoulders. "Don't give him all the credit, I learned a lot about being snarky from you too."

This time it was Gold that was barking with laughter as Milah's smile dropped and she smacked Bae behind the back of his head. "Your father is becoming a bad influence on you, Baelfire."

"I think it's more of the combined influences of Papa, Killian, Neal and Jefferson," said Bae with a smirk as he tasted whatever dish there was still on the table. "I like this one but can you do something that will be ok for your son as well. Like a pizza?"

"I am not cooking for you Bae," said Gold as he went over to get some ingredients from the drawers.

"But he does have a good suggestion," began Milah, looking at Adam with a wide smile and Gold knew he was done for. "Why don't you have something that three of you can make together?"

"When I suggested pizza, I didn't want to cook it myself," said Bae, his face falling at his mother's idea.

"But it'll be fun," said Milah. "You'd do your grand inquisition of Belle and turn your father's face into a bright tomato and embarrass him until the next century. Plus, I'm sure Belle would have fun and enjoy it."

Gold glared at his best friend but knew the idea was a good one. He knew because it was what he suggested as a second date for Milah and Killian but instead of making a pizza, they made grilled sandwiches in Milah's apartment. Killian got over his awkwardness around Bae when the boy started a food fight that totally wrecked Milah's kitchen but bridged the gap between the two.

"Fine," said Gold, keeping away all the other food ingredients he thought of trying. He leaned o the kitchen counter and glared at Bae. "But you total my kitchen Baelfire Neal Gold and you will be grounded until you are 21, do I make myself clear?"

"Yes sir!" saluted Bae as he stood on alert and gave his father an over the top salute, a big smile on his face and Milah just laughed at the ridiculousness of it all. Gold shook his head, this could either be the worst or best idea in the world.


	4. Chapter 4

Belle groaned as she tossed yet another dress into the growing pile on her bed, She should have said that it'd be better if they had dinner not immediately the day after they had lunch together. At least then she would have the time to pick out a proper outfit. Then she had to make it worse by agreeing to ride with him to his house, not giving her any time to look beautiful for the man she loves.

Loves. Belle smiled at the memory of all the times she had love Gold from afar and now she didn't have to hide it any longer. Ever since her first day at the Times, she had admired the Senior Associate Editor, how passionate he was about his work. How he could turn the investigative journalist person on and then turn it off when he was with his son. How even though he is feared and referred to as the "Beast" of the Times, people still respect him and value his input.

Belle shook her head. She had more pressing issues to deal with rather than fantasize about Adam Gold. She didn't need to do that anymore since now they were dating.

She did however need to find a proper outfit for tomorrow night.

She had raided her closet and found nothing that could satisfy her criteria of something worthy to wear into Gold's house. She knew he lived in a very big Victorian style house and she should look the part. Gold was always wearing a three-piece suit. Nobody has seen him in anything else, well maybe except Milah. So Belle had to be as formal as possible.

Or as worthy as she wanted to be for him.

Giving up, Belle finally did what she thought was her last resort. Though she really didn't want to do it, but she had no choice. She got her phone and dialed.

"Ruby," said Belle. "I need your help."

"With what exactly?" asked Ruby, a little bit concerned. "What's wrong?"

"Let's just say I need your expertise on something," said Belle, taking yet another dress from her closest but throwing it on top of the pile on her bed. "I have a very important dinner tomorrow evening and I have nothing to wear."

"Dear me that is a very dire predicament," said Ruby and Belle knew she was smiling. "I could be there in less than ten minutes if you tell me what is this dinner all about."

"You're not going to make this easy are you?" asked Belle, inwardly groaning as her best friend fished for information. "Can't I just have a fancy dinner and not know what to wear?"

"You've never been conscious about what you wear, French," fired back Ruby. "Now are we really going to waste time or I could already be heading out to your flat."

Belle sighed. "I'm having dinner with Adam at his house tomorrow evening."

"Say no more," said Ruby as Belle heard her get a move on in the background. "I'll be there as quick as I can."

And quick she was, the next thing Belle knew Ruby was standing in her bedroom going over her clothes and coming up with bizarre combinations that Belle thought she had made a huge mistake.

"You want to look like you deserve him but not so formal," repeated Ruby. "You're asking for a miracle here, French."

"You know what, I'm just going to go with the white blouse and light red skirt," said Belle, grabbing the two items of clothing in question

"No," said Ruby, "You look like a professor or something. Smart yes, but not necessarily inviting."

"Inviting?" asked Belle, giving her best friend a death glare. "And what does that suppose to mean?"

"You know perfectly well what I mean," hissed Ruby. "Now where is that dress?"

"What dress?" said Belle peaking from behind her much taller friend as she ruined her closet. "I don't think I have anything else that-"

She stopped the minute she saw what Ruby had found. It was the Halloween costume she had worn for the Times when the party had a Camelot theme. It was a long green velvet dress that women wore during those times.

"Are you insane?" asked Belle, studying her friend's smile. "I am not wearing that."

"Of course you're not wearing this," said Ruby. "You are wearing something that I will create using this. Trust me." Ruby then grabbed a pair of scissors and asked Belle for a needle and some thread.

Belle eyed Ruby as she got to work, cutting a huge portion of the lower part of the dress. By Belle's estimate, the dress would probably end around her knees. With it being shortened like that, Belle couldn't help but agree that it was the perfect thing to wear for tomorrow.

* * *

"We need to talk," said Killian upon entering Gold's office. The younger man shut the door as Gold looked up at his correspondent.

"What's wrong?" asked Gold, knowing too well that tone Killian used.

"Greene has something on Peter Malcolm," said Killian, taking a seat in front of Gold's desk. "Michael and John are back and from what I could see Peter gave them a bollocking of the century."

"When did this happen?" asked Gold, his full attention now on Killian. The Darlings were of course a close acquaintance of the Education Minister. Wendy Darling, the oldest of the siblings, being Malcolm's personal assistant since the beginnings of his political career.

"David and I were coming back from the inquiry of the Education budget and just outside where the two Darlings and Malcolm," explained Killian. He fished out his phone and showed Gold the pictures he took. "Malcolm was pretty pissed and it looks like the Darlings are at fault."

"How does this connect with Greene?" asked Gold.

"Move to the video," said Killiana and Gold pressed play.

 _Honestly, Peter. I thought everything was ok._

 _Apparently it's not Michael._

 _Maybe Greene was just bluffing and you fell for it._

 _He knows and it's your bloody fault that he does._

 _We'll make sure nothing happens._

 _To me and Felix. I don't care about anyone else._

 _Peter he's-"_

 _I said I don't care!_

The video ended and Gold handed Killian back his phone, deep in thought. Sure he and the Education Minister weren't on good terms but Peter Malcolm was a competent minister and his program for out of school youth was one of the good news that Gold had loved to write.

"What do we have on Malcolm?" asked Gold, going back to his computer and searching for his files. Peter Malcolm had been on hot water recently due to a piece the Times had done concerning the proposed "Child-Protection Policy". The policy supposedly protected students from their bully teachers but the provisions of the policy basically protected the students and left the teachers to be the one's being bullied by the students and their well-read parents. It looked like Peter Malcolm only pushed for the policy because of pressure from parents as well, making it look like the minister was also like the bullied teachers of his schools.

"Beside the fact that he's old and lives with his husband Felix," said Killian. "None. We've never really looked at him as in depth as we're doing with Greene. He was an educated man, never dreamed of an elected post, happy being a cabinet minister and contented with his life. Most of the things he's done is for the Education sector and he's retiring soon."

"You heard the man Killian," said Gold. "I've interviewed him loads of times and I've never heard him lose his cool like that. Greene has something big on him and Malcolm wants to keep it buried."

"I'm guessing we're going to try and figure it out," said Killian.

"For now," said Gold. "If we do find something, I don't want to us to turn to blackmail. Whatever we find, we confront Malcolm. Then maybe, he can help us."

"Get Greene you mean," said Killian.

"He is retiring soon," continued Gold. "Malcolm is smart. He knows that Greene becoming a politician is not a good thing for anyone but Greene himself. Malcolm has common sense. If we can manage to protect him from whatever Greene has on him. Manage to salvage his reputation if it is that bad, he'll help."

* * *

"Last chance," said Milah, entering Gold's office. "You sure you don't want me to have Bae stay the night?"

"No," said Gold. "He's looking forward to this."

"And you aren't?" asked Milah and Gold sighed as he turned his attention from his computer to his best friend. "Out with it, I'm your best friend Adam. You can't hide anything from me."

"Close the door," said Gold and MIlah did so as Gold moved to sit on his office couch, Milah joining him. "I'm so nervous I can barely think straight."

"There's no harm in being nervous Adam," assured Milah. "I was worse with Killian, remember."

"Killian's a smooth talker," objected Gold. "I'm not. One second in and I'll do something so stupid that she'll tailgate out of the house before I can even say anything."

"Gold that woman looks at you like a god," said Milah. "She adored you the second she first saw you and she basically worships the ground you walk on. And you know what's great? You look exactly the same when you look at her. If that is not love, I don't know what that is."

"That's the thing Mil!" said Gold. "What if I screw it up?"

"Adam I don't think there's anything more you can do to make Belle not like you," replied Milah. "You've done a lot of stupid things just because she walked in the room and Belle has seen a lot of embarrassing things concerning you."

Gold groaned and covered his face with his hands.

"Adam," said Milah, shaking her best friend by the shoulders. "Stop using your head. Stop thinking about 'what ifs' and like Star Wars 'Keep your concentration here and now, where it belongs'."

Gold looked up in surprise and stared at her. "Who are you and what have you done to my Star Wars hating best friend?"

"You and Killian left me with Bae the other weekend and the boy did nothing but convince me to watch it," said Milah. "Don't get me wrong, I still hate it. But it does have some usual quotes."

Gold laughed and Milah smiled as her plan worked and Adam seemed to have lightened up a bit. Trust the man to overthink things especially a simple dinner with the woman he loves. "Now don't get so worked up about your date with Belle. I'm sure you both will have a great time, especially with what she's wearing."

"What?"

Milah laughed. "You haven't seen her yet have you? Be prepared to trip or pick yourself from the floor, Adam. You're going to get knocked off your socks when you see her. She's certainly dressed for the occasion."

Milah laughed at Gold's expression. "Last chance, want me to get Bae out of the house?"

"Oh shut up," said Gold, hitting her with a throw pillow from the couch.

* * *

Gold paced the parking lot. He knew he looked stupid and pathetic but there he still was. 15 minutes early than the time he had told Belle to meet him by his car. They would drive to his house together and he offered to drive her back once they were done with the night...and Gold was wishing that won't happen.

Not that he had any desire to share a bed with Belle just after three official dates (because the others did not count at all) but maybe she could spend the night, in separate rooms or sleep in one bed but completely clothed….

Gold sighed and placed his hands on the side of his car. He was being completely pathetic. He was a top journalist with a school boy crush, whose girl just happened to exit the elevator without his notice and saw him pacing.

Belle couldn't hold back her giggle and Gold turned, eyes wide. His shock wasn't because she could have seen his pacing...but because of what she was wearing.

It was the dress she wore in their Halloween party before, but if Gold remembered correctly, that was longer than what she was wearing now. But the effect on him was the same as the first time he saw her wearing it. If his hand wasn't leaning on his car, he would have dropped to the ground.

Belle smiled as Gold's usual calm and serious composure was shattered and what was left in its wake was a wide-eyed man with his mouth hanging slightly open.

"Shall we get going then?" asked Belle with a bright smile.

"I….Yes...Of course...let me just…" He scrambled to opened the door for her and Belle had to hide the amused grin she had on her face. Gold opened the door to the passenger side, "Your chariot my lady."

"Thank you," replied Belle as she got in and Gold shut the door. He hastily went to his side and got in. "So what are we having for dinner?"

Gold's mind raced. He couldn't possibly ask her to cook her own food wearing something as beautiful as that dress that would probably be ruined. The night was starting out one mistake after another. "Ummm...maybe we could just go to a restaurant instead."

Belle shot him a surprised and confused look. "You just bragged about your culinary skills yesterday."

"Right," said Gold as he got out of the parking building. He sighed. "I was thinking we could make pizzas for dinner tonight but I don't want to ruin your attire. Maybe I could just call Bae and tell him to order take out while I take you-"

Belle placed a hand over his knee. "It's ok. Pizza sounds lovely and I do have to warn you I can't cook anything, even water. So it'd be a certain sense of achievement."

Gold smiled. Crisis averted, maybe the night was going to be perfect afterall.

They arrived at the house shortly and Belle was amazed at how big it was but at the same time… "Your house is salmon color?"

"Am I glad you did not say pink," said Gold as he opened the door for her. "Regina has insisted on calling it the Pink Victorian when I have pointed out that it is not completely pink but Salmon color."

Belle laughed as Gold offered her his arm and they walked up to the doorway which opened to reveal Baelfire with a huge grin on his face. "Hi Belle! How are you?"

"Fine, Bae," answered Belle. "Glad to be here. You're so much taller than me already."

"Growth spurt," said Bae with a smile. "I'm glad I didn't get my father's genes in height."

Gold glared at his son who shared a laugh with Belle. "I'm glad you're not that tall. It means I can kiss you without the need of box to stand up on."

Gold flashed Belle a huge smile and Belle kissed him on the cheek as Bae groaned. "Really guys? Will that happen throughout the night? I won't be at fault if I throw pizza doe at you."

"Try it and you're grounded for the rest of your life, Baelfire Neal Gold," said Gold with a glint in his eyes. He took Belle's coat and hung it near the door. "Why don't you give Belle a tour while I prepare the kitchen, Bae."

"Sure," said Bae with a grin. "I'll show the one place where dad usually disappears to." Belle grinned and followed the teen throughout the house. Bae's first stop was Adam's study which was lined with bookshelves that Belle's eyes went wide.

"He's read about all the books here at least a dozen times," said Bae as Belle browsed the titles. The books ranges from biographies to historical analysis and fantasy stories to thrillers. "dad loves about any kind of story may it real or not, current or past."

"I'm not one for horrors and suspense," said Belle. "But I do love a good book that engages."

"I love those dragons and heroes stories," said Bae. "But I'm more of the detective stories and spy thrillers. Instead of science fiction and all that."

"Then I assume you've read Sherlock Holmes?" asked Belle as Bae led him to the other parts of the house.

"Yes and James Bond of course," said Bae. "Ian Fleming is a great author and as usual i prefer the books to the movies." They stopped and Bae opened the door to the backyard. "Dad and I usually try and play football here, it's no field but we've built a makeshift goal. And of course there is the gazebo and the treehouse."

Belle eyes widened at the size of the yard. Huge was an understatement. It was big grass area that was fenced. A great big tree stood on one side with a big tree house situated within its branches. To the other side was a white gazebo and Belle could make out an iron bench and a small table inside.

"Wow," the only thing Belle could say as she took in the yard.

"Exactly," said Bae with a smile. "If you stay tonight, you might just see the ocean of stars. Granted, Papa and I have taken to the roof sometimes to see them. A blanket laid down outside is cozy as well."

Bae led Belle to the kitchen and Belle's eyes widened at the sight in front of her. Gold had a navy blue button down short-sleeve shirt over a pale blue t-shirt and jeans. Belle had never seen him dressed down like that before and quite frankly, it suited him a lot. He offered them each an apron.

"Might get a bit messy," said Gold with a smile. "Wouldn't want to ruin that lovely dress you have this evening."

"If I had known we were having pizza I would have," said Belle with a smile. "Somebody made it sound like to prepare for a 5-star restaurant."

"Papa may not be a cook professionally but he makes the best food there is Belle," said Bae putting on his apron and rubbing his hands together in anticipation. "Not to mention a great cooking teacher. It was probably the only reason I passed Home Ec."

"Alright then," said Gold as he readied a good amount of pizza dough in front of both Bae and Belle. "I took the liberty of making the dough. Now you have the pleasure of shaping it to make it look like a pizza."

The kitchen had a center kitchen counter, with drawers underneath it. Gold had covered the counter with baking paper and flour to help them with their task. Gold had easily demonstrated what to do, patting down the ball of dough into a circle, rotating it as he went along. From the center, he then pushed the dough outward with his fingers. He then picked up the dough and moved his hands along the edges, allowing gravity to pull the dough into a larger circle. When he was satisfied he placed it back down and pushed down gently around the perimeter of the pie, rotating it to create the edge.

"So now I can add whatever topping I want with it," said Gold with a glint in his eyes.

"Papa say Haggis Pizza again and I swear I am going to hurl," said Bae with a groan as he started working. Belle did as well as Gold added his own made tomato sauce to his already shaped pizza dough. He then added different kinds of cheese and finished with a good helping of pepperoni.

"Haggis?" asked Belle. She's heard of the Scottish delicacy but have yet to try it.

"Maybe some other time," said Gold with a smile.

Bae was getting on well with his dough but Belle seemed to be having difficulty. "You know I suddenly have a new appreciation for the people who make pizzas. This is hard."

"Aren't you supposed to be good at cooking, French?" asked Gold with a smile and Belle glared at him.

"Just because my last name is 'French' doesn't mean I'm gifted with brilliant culinary skills," huffed Belle. "Besides, pizzas are an Italian specialty not the French."

Gold laughed and moved to stand behind her, placing his hands above her own as he guided her into shaping the pizza. "Here."

Belle tensed a little at the closeness. She could even feel Gold's heartbeat on her back, his breath on her neck and it sent small shivers down her spine. She could feel her face reddening but was glad that Gold was more focused on the pizza dough they were trying to shape and Bae was too busy deciding what to put on his pizza.

"There you go," said Gold with a smile as he removed his hands over her own and stood aside. "What do you want on top?"

 _You…_

"Belle?"

"Right," said Belle, trying to get a hold of herself. "Well I've basically eaten every kind of pizza topping in existence so how about I experiment with all of them at once?"

"Here's everything we've got," said Bae as he offered her all the toppings that Gold had prepared for them.

"I don't think that'll be good for your stomach though," said Gold as Belle went wild and basically placed everything she could on her pizza.

"Well it is my pizza and nobody chooses its fate but me," said Belle and both Bae and Gold laughed at her very serious tone and she responded by throwing a fist full of flour at them.

"Oh you're asking for it," said Bae and without hesitation took the spoon from the bowl of tomato sauce and flicked it her way.

"That's enough you two," said Gold, although he was trying to control his laughter. "Don't turn my kitchen into a war zone."

Both Bae and Belle shared a look at how clean Gold looked as compared to the two of the and they both smiled menacingly at him.

"You know Bae," began Belle. "I think your father needs a good hug with flour. Don't you?"

"Don't you even think about it," warned Gold, backing away from the two as they rounded over the counter arms ready.

"You know Belle," answered Bae. "I think you're right." They advanced on Gold and he was cornered when his back met the fridge. Bae and Belle smiled before launching themselves unto Gold but he managed to sidestep them, Belle only managing to graze his arm with flour covered hands. Bae reacted quickly and ran to intercept his father and cut off his exit as Belle remained running after Gold.

Gold having nowhere to go grabbed the bowl of shredded cheese and threw those at his son and girlfriend. Bae ducked out of the way but Belle managed to grab another fist full of flower and aimed at Gold's head. Bae did the same and Gold got hit at the back of the head and chest.

"Two can play that game," growled Gold getting his hands to some flour and hugging Belle who yelped in surprise. Freeing another hand, Gold then ruffled Bae's head making sure the flour covered his face and hair.

"I yield!" said Bae with a laugh, he was almost completely covered in flour like Belle. Gold had some on his cheek and his shirt and hair but not as white as the other two. Bae also had some cheese on his hair and Belle had tomato sauce on her cheek. "Look at that, if you bake Belle and I, we'll pass for a good pizza."

The three laughed and decided to clean up. Gold placed the three pizzas in the oven and proceeded to wash his face and hair. He asked Bae to show Belle the guest bathroom. Her apron had managed to protect her clothing from the impromptu food fight. His kitchen on the other hand was a disaster.

"Need a hand?" Gold turned to see Belle wearing a Liverpool jersey on top of her green dress. "Bae told me I could borrow it to save my dress from future food wars."

"Of course," said Gold, biting back the retort that Bae had given Belle his own shirt to wear. "As for the kitchen, you're our guest. We'll clean up later."

"Guest or not, it was my fault," said Belle, getting the broom from the side of the kitchen. "Besides, with my help this will be clean and spotless by the time the pizzas are done."

Gold could only nod as Belle swept the floor and Gold wiped the kitchen counters. Bae came down a few minutes after and helped clean up the left over ingredients that could still be stored. "Glad papa's shirt suits you Belle."

Belle's head immediately shot up and looked from Bae and Gold. "This is yours?"

"Um, yes," began Gold, trying to figure out if those were the right words to say or not.

"Oh," said Belle, feeling slightly embarrassed. "I thought it was Bae's. Sorry, he just gave it to me."

"It's no problem Belle," said Gold with a small smile. "Bae's right, it suits you. You should probably ask Robin about the specifics of the Liverpool Football Club."

Belle smiled and playfully hit him with the broom. "I may not be a sporty girl but I do know the difference between football and American football."

"I'm glad I do too," said Bae. "Wished I had an accent though. I want to sound Scottish."

"You just want the attention," said Gold.

"Of course! Have you seen some of the people from school every time you're there and they hear you. It's like an open call to come and look at me as I speak with a Scottish brogue."

Belle laughed as the father and son continued to banter about their respective accents and in no time the kitchen was spotless and the pizza was ready.


	5. Chapter 5

_Hi everyone! So with the current chapters I have, I might be able to update once a month. But when things pick up, I can do more frequent ones! Anyway, a lot of characters are going to be mentioned in this one, so I hope you guys get them all correct. Hint: Wonderland._

 _Oh and another thing, I cannot for the life of me right smut. I can't. I've tried and failed so sorry to anyone expecting that._

 _Side note: My other Rumbelle fic called "Sacrifice" is nominated for Angst: Death in this year's TEAs. Give it a read if you have time and if it is to your liking, please vote for it! :)_

"That must have been some movie," said a voice that slowly brought Gold to wakefulness. His vision cleared and saw his son standing over him with a smug smile on his face. Gold groaned and this made the bundle of warmth in his arms stir.

"Couldn't have just woken us Bae?" asked Gold as Belle opened her eyes. He glanced at his watch. It was almost 9 in the morning. "Please tell me you cooked breakfast."

"Reason why I woke you papa," said Bae with a cheeky grin. "I have to go meet Grace for a school project. Morning Belle."

"Morning Bae," replied Belle rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

"I'll let you two wake up," said Bae. "I'll get the ingredients ready Papa. But I'm hungry so hurry up."

Gold waved him to the kitchen impatiently as both he and Belle sat up on the couch they have turned into a bed. When Bae had called it a night, the two of them decided to watch a movie...well a marathon of the Harry Potter movies. After the third one, Gold felt himself drift off with Belle cuddling closer to him and that eventually resulted in them both on the couch and wrapped in each other's arms.

"Well," began Gold. "That's not exactly how I had imagine how my first night sleeping with you would be like."

Belle smiled and playfully hit him in the arm. "Well that what's you get for agreeing to a Harry Potter marathon. But if we're being honest, I had no intention of going home last night."

Gold felt himself blush. "Though I think your son would have been traumatised for life."

"I can hear you, you know!" Came the reply from the kitchen. Gold and Belle laughed as Gold stood and offered a hand to Belle.

"Come on before he eggs us from keeping him from breakfast," said Gold.

"Has he done that?" asked Belle with an amused smile.

"He poured cold water over him once well I slept in," said Gold. "It's his own fault. He knows how to cook but still wants me to. Slave driver."

"To be honest," began Belle as they reached the kitchen where Bae had already laid out eggs, some spices and defrosting some bacon. "Even if I knew how to cook, I would still prefer you do it."

"Told you papa," said Bae with a successful grin, finally finding someone who sides with him. "Why cook something ok when you can have someone cook it so much better just by waking him up."

"Haha," replied Gold sarcastically as he began to cook breakfast. "Whatever happened to 'A way to a man's heart is through his stomach.'"

"Well that's the same for women," said Belle with a smile. "And sometimes, role reversals are welcome."

Bae choked on his orange juice as Gold stiffened. "Good thing I have plans today." said Bae, shaking his head in amusement.

Belle laughed as Gold glared at her. "What? He's old enough."

"And would also love to not be a part of this conversation so save it after I've had my breakfast and made a beeline out the door," said Bae. "But I think it's more of you embarrassing him in front of me, Belle."

"How can it be that the most important people in my life are also the possible death of me?" complained Gold as he turned back to his cooking.

"Well get used to it," said Bae, sharing a conspiratorial smile with Belle.

"Yeah, Adam," continued Belle. "You're stuck with us."

"I knew I should have called mom," said Bae with a grin.

"Yeah sure have the three of you here, ordering me to cook breakfast," replied Gold. "I'll be dead by noon."

* * *

Zozo smashed the receiver back down hard. Gold and his writers were still digging and now they were digging somewhere that had a potential risk to his agendas. The sound of an almost damaged phone brought Mrs. Greene to her husband's study.

"What's wrong?"

"The Times are still digging and from what my source has reported," began Zozo,pacing his study. "They're looking into Glinda's disappearance."

"But that case has gone cold," assured Mrs. Greene. "They won't find anything."

"We both know Gold is not someone who stops fishing," said Zozo in annoyance.

"I told you it was a wrong decision to go after Dove," replied Mrs. Greene. "You basically put a target behind your back, Zozo."

"It worked didn't it?" argued Zozo. "They are now playing safe."

"But they are also eager to find something to pin on you," said Mrs. Greene finally sitting on one of the chairs in front of Zozo's desk. "You're fanning the flame, Zozo. They won't find anything and you should enjoy watching them try."

"Or I can scare them off," said Zozo, walking to the front of his desk to stand in front of his wife and lean back on the desk. "It's better knowing that they've backed off instead of thinking about the possibility that they could find something. Gold's smart, he will eventually find something to use against me and that might be my end."

"You give him far more credit than you should," replied Mrs. Greene. "He hasn't even figured out Peter Malcolm's little secret. I believe Adam Gold is nothing special but an annoying little prick."

"You haven't met him my dear," began Zozo. "That man can be an infuriating imp and he is smarter than he looks."

"Just like his grandfather then," offered Mrs. Greene. "What's your plan then?"

"Hit them where it hurts," said Zozo, crossing his arms in front of him. "None of them are untouchable, especially Gold. I'd do anything to wipe that smug smile off his face, thinking he has outsmarted me."

Mrs. Greene fell silent and Zozo turned to her. "You can't possibly tell me that you're concerned for him, my dear. That man is a snivelling little weasel who sticks his nose in other people's business all for the sake of public awareness and freedom of speech. He is an idiot."

"I am not concerned for his well-being, Zozo," began Mrs. Greene. "I have no concern over Adam Gold at all, especially with what happened in his past."

"Good," said Zozo as he fished out his phone and contacted Hodor. "Because this is one business I am going to enjoy."

* * *

"Hey."

Gold looked up to see Belle hovering by the door, small arms clutching her meeting agenda and and hand on a cup of tea.

"Hey," greeted Gold with a smile. "What brings you here?"

"I was wondering if I could go up to the inevitable with you?" asked Belle, still not entering his office. Gold raised an eyebrow, totally confused on what she was talking about. "The editorial and managerial meeting."

Gold turned to his desk clock and sighed in relief. Said meeting was half an hour from now and Gold thought he might have gotten himself lost in writing his editorial again.

"Sweetheart, you gave me a heart attack with that," said Gold, standing up and guiding Belle to sit down on his office couch. "I thought I was late."

"Sorry," began Belle putting her things down and covering her face with her hands. "I'm just so bloody nervous...I don't know why I even agreed to this."

"Mal knew you'd be passionate about it and she knew you'd do a great job," replied Gold, prying her hands from her face so he could look her in the eyes. "Belle, you've read and edited some of the first books we've published already and look how they were. Bestsellers the whole lot of them."

"But submissions are piling up as we speak and I don't think my team can handle all that," argued Belle and Gold wrapped his hands around hers.

"You're just used to a deadline as hectic as that of a daily newspaper," began Gold, sitting beside her on the couch. "Books have a different sort of deadline. Besides, Regina has said that they just want to publish at least 4 books a year, one a quarter. You have enough time to read through the submissions and plan."

"That's easy for you to say," said Belle, still not thoroughly convinced.

"Belle, I've seen you devour a book in minutes," said Gold with a smile. "if it's a book worth publishing, you'll know the minute you read the first paragraph."

Belle stayed silent and Gold pushed on. "Belle you're given the greatest pleasure of being the first person to read a story that you can or may decide not to share to the world. You know almost all stories in existence and I know we have the best person in the job."

"What about the editing?" asked Belle sheepishly.

"Well that's why you have us backing you up," said Gold, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. "Why the sudden dip in self-confidence love? You're usually the one who believes she can do extraordinary things."

"I just…" began Belle but shook her head as she stared at the floor. "Don't get me wrong. I love the opportunity...but aren't there more qualified people on the floor for the job? I was just a librarian."

"Nobody disses librarians in front of me Ms. French," cut off Gold immediately but Belle heard the teasing tone in his voice. "Librarians are some of the rarest people you'll meet."

"Oh and why is that?" asked Belle with a small smile.

"They have super powers," said Gold with dramatic effect and Belle had to bite down the urge to laugh.

"Powers?"

"They have the power to change your world just by introducing you to a book that has a story to tell," replied Gold his smile widening. "Librarians can take you on an adventure you never thought you'd go to. They will literally open your eyes to something spectacular that you'll hate yourself for missing out on it for all these years."

"Now you're just quoting my article," said Belle as she playfully nudged his side with her elbow. "But thank you, that was sweet."

"As my lady commands," replied Gold with a slight bow of his head. "You really shouldn't worry about these meetings. It's actually quite a lot of fun."

"Easy for you to say," began Belle, wrapping her arms around his waist. "They're not your boss."

"Well they're not yours anymore as well," pointed out Gold. "Basically the only person higher than you would be Regina because she owns the publishing company."

"What do you usually discuss then?" asked Belle and Gold gave her a satisfied smile. He had managed to calm her down with still some time to spare.

"Just the usual updates," said Gold. "Before it was just a quick one, but now that Regina has merged the editorial and managerial meetings so that everyone was in the loop, the meetings have doubled in minutes but it does save us the trouble of looking for each other."

"How so?" asked Belle.

"Well Albert and I usually have concerns with one another," explained Gold as he too got his papers ready for their meeting. "Legal matters on what writers can and can't do or what actions are still under freedom of speech and which ones are invasion of privacy...things like that."

"And things that can get us sued?" asked Belle with a small smile which Gold returned.

"That's Albert's priority most of the time," said Gold as he motioned for Belle to stand and they headed to the 12th floor. "I would have you know that there hasn't been a lawsuit that has actually been pushed through."

"Yes because who can resist your boyish charms," teased Belle and Gold found himself blushing.

* * *

"Before we all head our separate ways," said Regina as the meeting has reached it's one hour mark. "Election season is coming up and as you know we do a feature with each candidate that wants an important post. Best get ready, Adam and I will be assigning your respective candidates soon, not unless you already have someone in mind."

"Just don't give me Greene and I'll be fine," said Mal which got everyone's heads nodding in agreement.

"i'm pretty sure Adam wants Greene all to himself," said Jefferson. "And you want that minister obsessed with her dogs."

"You are not interviewing Ella De Vil, Mal," said Regina. "One, conflict of interest. Two, I'm not going to pay for you to go on a date with someone you've been eyeing for months."

Mal's face turned a slight shade of red while everyone else laughed. "I didn't say that I was going to interview her. And please do not even attempt to assign her to Regina, Adam."

"I'll take her," offered Milah and Mal glared daggers at her. "Oh come on, who would you suggest interview your crush then?"

"The only one I will trust are either Adam, Leopold, Friedrich and Sydney." replied Mal. "Sorry, everyone else will probably embarrass me to kingdom come. Or in Belle's case, she might just fall for someone else."

"I'll do it then," said Leopold. "I've met her before she became a minister. I think she'll warm up to me."

"Just not that much," whispered Mal under her breath which everyone heard and they all couldn't stop themselves from laughing.

"I think all of us are good with anyone except Greene," said Albert.

"We're leaving Greene to the News writers," said Regina. "You sure you're ok with anyone? Even Arthur Camarie?"

"Well he is a bonafide politician and was once a lawyer so I'm ok with sitting down with him for a few minutes," replied Albert.

"These interviews take about an hour and a half depends on the politician," began David. "Knowing Arthur, I'd wager he'd talk your ear off."

Albert made a face. "Fine, I did say anyone. Besides, free lunch. I'm alright with him."

"Don't give me Keith Nottingham," said Robin and before Regina could even muster a word Albert beat her to it.

"And don't give him to Regina not unless you guys want a lawsuit." said Albert quickly earning him a glare from Regina and the laughter of everyone else.

"If we're listing down people who Regina shouldn't interview add Greg Mendell to that list," voiced Blue. "Not unless we want another public harassment case. I think we'd lose money."

"We won the last one," said Regina. "It's not my fault the guy's a jerk and trying to make the moves on me like some drunken bastard."

"Yeah but you wasted a lot of money too," replied Friedrich Midas. "Maybe she can interview him, as long as she doesn't sue him for indecent behaviour. Or have a phone interview."

"Add Percy Cunningham to that list," said Jefferson. "Regina just might give the poor guy a heart attack."

"Jafar Nyx might just flirt with you the entire interview so he's out of the question," added Robin.

"I can fire all of you remember," pointed out Regina and then she turned and glared at Robin. "And Jafar did not hit on me."

"Yeah right," mumbled Robin as everyone laughed. "The guy was all over you like some love sick puppy."

"This meeting is getting out of hand," began Regina. "Adam just take note of everyone's preference. I'm sure by now we have enough writers per candidate."

"I'll take Ana Scarlet," offered Mal, as she turned to Belle. "Maybe you can tell Will to ask his wife to go easy on me."

"I can do one of the Grimm brothers," voiced out Friedrich. "I can't do both because they might just tag team me."

"You take Adam and I take Eddie," answered Sydney. "They usually want to do it at the same time, let's just separate our tables."

"Which brings me to ask," began Gold turning to Regina. "What do we do about Fergus Dunbroch? Would it be a conflict of interest since his daughter works for us?"

Merida Dunbroch was a writer for the art and books section but volunteered to be part of the publishing group under Belle.

"Just don't have any of the Features people do it," answered Blue. "I can take him."

"Actually Blue," began Gold. "We're also doing a feature for Peter Malcolm since it's his last year of service. I was hoping you'd take him and Milah could take Fergus."

"We are?" asked Regina, turning to Gold with a raised eyebrow.

"If you read my previous email Your Majesty," began Gold, giving her a sarcastic smile. "You would know." Regina rolled her eyes at him.

"That's fine," said Milah as Blue also nodded. "Though we should probably give Blue some guards. The man's a giant!"

"I could take Greene," offered Regina but she knew Adam wasn't going to give up the chance to interview the man. "But I know you won't give it up."

"I'll take Jafar and you take Arthur," offered Albert. "I'm sure that won't last an hour."

"Sure give me Arthur," said Regina. "Might as well try to make him talk specific policies instead of a general bright future answer he always gives us."

"I'll take Nottingham," added David. "And I won't punch him in the face for you Robin."

"I'll take Mendell so Robin won't punch him either," said Jefferson.

"That leaves me Percy Cunningham," said Robin as he glared at David and Jefferson. "Just for the record, I don't punch people because I like to."

"No you just do it to men who pounced on your girlfriend," said Milah earning her glares from both Regina and Robin.

"That leaves Hans Isles or Gary Weselton," said Sydney. "Not unless you want to give up Percy Cunningham, Robin."

"I'd prefer to take Weselton over Hans," said Belle turning to George Marco, the last of the board to not take anyone.

"I'm alright with Hans," answered Marco.

"And me with Greene," said Gold, his face expressionless. In all honesty, he'd rather take anyone but then Greene had already shown interest in talking to him. He was the best man for the job. "Alright, I'll email the lineup of questions and their contact details. We usually decide where and they decide the when since the company is the one paying."

"So don't even think about it," said Regina. "Friedrich will need all the receipts for proper documentations. So really don't think about it. And as much as possible have them during lunch not dinner so no drinks, Jefferson."

"Hey it's not like I'm the only one who did that last year," defended Jefferson. "David had his at night as well."

"Yeah but I didn't charge a drink or two to the Times," laughed David as they all headed out of the meeting room.

"No, you just went to an all buffet dinner," hissed Regina. "Do that again and that is deducted from your salary, Nolan."

Gold, Belle and David headed to the life while the rest went back to their respective offices. "You sure about Greene?"

"Not really," began Gold. "But he's very eager to talk to me. Maybe I can use that to my advantage."

"Is he really that dangerous?" asked Belle, her voice lined with worry.

"Well," began David as they entered the lift. "He's a manipulator with a lot of money and therefore has a lot of friends who would do anything, no questions asked."

"Like beat up a reporter," said Belle as she turned to Gold. "Promise me you'll be careful."

"He won't make a move while we're in public," said Gold as they had arrived on the floor of the News Section. "Besides, he asked for the interview."

The lift doors were closing but Belle blocked them. "Adam…"

Gold gave her a reassuring smile. "Don't worry about me Belle. It's Greene who should be worried about talking to me."

"Why doesn't that make me feel better?" said Belle, eyeing her boyfriend.

"Well he is right Belle," offered David. "Greene maybe a master manipulator but when Adam Rumford Gold is out for a story, nothing will be left uncovered."


	6. Chapter 6

"Are you positively sure that your son did not hear anything at all?" whispered Belle and then giggled as she shifted her head above Gold's chest to look the man straight in the eye. "I think we made quite a racket."

Belle and Gold had decided to spend the entire weekend together and at Gold's house. Most of the activities they both had in mind didn't require anything except maybe a good stocked fridge and a sturdy surface.

Gold ran his hand through Belle's lovely hair and smiled. "Either that or he started to hear something and turned the volume of his headphones through the roof."

Belle giggled and snuggled closer to Gold, relishing in his warmth. Gold pulled the covers over them and wrapped both his arms around her. He gently kissed the top of her head and savoured the scent of her hair.

"Should probably set an alarm lest Bae decides to barge in here tomorrow morning," said Gold but did not attempt to move from his place.

"It's actually later today," corrected Belle, smiling again but closing her eyes. She was going to fall asleep real soon and it was a good thing that Adam had covered them up because knowing the 18 year old boy living a couple of doors from them, he was going to barge into his father's bedroom demanding breakfast and will have the shock of his life. "Maybe you could lock the door."

"He's smart," replied Gold and Belle noted the slight slur of his speech, telling her that Gold was pretty much close to falling asleep as she was. "Well I think he is, and if he proves otherwise, then the trauma might just teach him the lesson of not barging in his father's bedroom just to demand I cook him breakfast."

"Only you could use us getting caught in bed naked together as a parental tool," laughed Belle breathing in the man currently in her arms. Heavens, he smelled good and if she wasn't too tired she might just straddle him again and kiss his bare chest until the sun came up.

"Maximizing resources sweetheart," said Gold, eyes closed and ready to surrender himself to sleep. "Are you really contented with using me as a pillow?"

"Warmer and softer," replied Belle with a yawn. "Besides, you like it."

"Can't argue with that," said Gold as the two fell into a good night's sleep that lasted until the other resident of the house woke up and went his way to his father's bedroom.

Baelfire proved to be a smart and sweet lad as he gently opened his father's bedroom door to take a peek and found himself smiling broadly when he saw the two nestled together. He didn't linger though and promptly when to the kitchen and fixed up a breakfast for three. Knowing full well that his father and girlfriend would probably be famished after their activities last night.

He was after all 18 and could understand the situation but it still felt a bit weird knowing that it was his father. But then again, now he had things to blackmail and tease his father about.

"You're up mighty early," said a voice from behind him and Bae turned to see Belle, wearing one of his father's university shirts, a broad smile on her face. "And here we thought you were going to barge into your father's bedroom and demand for food."

"I did sneak a peek," admitted Bae with a small smile. "I'd figure I'd let you sleep in seeing as you were very busy last night."

Belle's face turned a bright red and pretended to cough. "Oh...you um...heard"

"Well to give you credit," began Bae with a smile. "You did try very hard to keep it down. But some things just can't be silenced."

Belle groaned and covered her face with her hands as Baelfire laughed. "Seriously, it's not that bad Belle. I'm old enough to get it. Besides, mom and Killian have scarred me for life when they forgot I was staying over and I'm surprised they were not heard by the entire inhabitants of Storybrooke."

"You know you and your father have the same sense of humour," groaned Belle as she finally lifted her head from her hands and glared at the teenager.

"Like father, like son," replied Bae with a smile that reminded Belle so much of her boyfriend. "Speaking of, where is my dad?"

"Snoring like a baby the last time I checked," said Belle as she lifted her phone. "Managed a quick shot as blackmail."

"Exactly my thoughts about your activities last night," said Bae. "You know, he's probably right. The two of us will be the death of him."

* * *

The weekend ended too soon for Gold's liking because he had a good 48 hours spent mostly with Belle and occasionally with his son who did not wipe the smug grin on his face all weekend. But alas Monday came and his first order of business was setting up the interview with Zozo Greene. That proved to be easier said than done since the man's secretary said that Greene was incredibly busy and had no time to indulge the 'pathetic excuse' for a newspaper for an interview even if they were the one's paying for the food.

Which is why it was a surprise when Ashley suddenly came knocking that afternoon.

"Greene's on the line for you," said Ashley, rapping her knuckles on Gold's office door frame to get his attention.

"That was quick," replied Gold. "I thought his secretary said that man was incredibly busy."

"Apparently not for the Times," came the smug reply and Gold had to grin. "What I'd give to see that secretary's face now, after the hell she put me through this morning. You'll take it or should we let him squirm."

"We're becoming a bad influence on you Ashley." commented Gold with a smile as he nodded and lifted the phone on his desk. "Mr. Greene, I wasn't expecting to hear from you so soon."

"Well I was intrigued by your call, Adam," began Zozo, his usual enthusiasm framing his words. "And here I thought I wasn't going to hear from the Times so soon."

"I did say I was going to check with my editor-in-chief first Mr. Greene," explained Gold. "And we are going to be conducting the interviews with candidates for our Sunday specials."

"I take it that I am the honoured one to be interviewed by the great Adam Rumford Gold, am I not?" asked Zozo, a glint in his voice and Gold had to suppress a groan. The man was too eager to be talking to him and it just fed his over cautious mind. "Splendid. My offer still stands. I'll pay for our meals. How about lunch day after?"

Gold's eyes narrowed at how immediately Zozo had taken control of the conversation but the editor knew he had to play along. He needed to make Greene feel like he was the one in charge but when the interview came, Gold was going to crush him.

"That would be fine Mr. Greene," said Gold. "But the Times will pay for our-"

"Nonsense," cut off Greene. "It will be my pleasure. How does the Vault sound? I'm sure we can arrange for a private booth so that the interview will have no interruptions and less noise. I'm sure it'll be alright with Ms. Mills and Mr. Midas will gladly be alright with your company not having to pay."

Gold could only glare at his office wall. Zozo was demonstrating his dominance and power. Fine, if he wants to show off then so be it.

"I guess I can only agree," began Gold, trying very hard to sound pleased and he guessed it worked because Greene laughed on the other end of the line.

"Good, I'll see you then Adam," said Greene. "I'll be sure to read up. I wouldn't want to embarrass myself in front of you. Oh and bring your appetite."

Gold let him hang-up first before he removed the receiver from his ear, letting his hand dangle by his side. With a sigh, he called out his office. "Alright, how many we're eavesdropping?"

Silence and then Killian, Emma, David and Ashley all entered his office, all with sheepish looking expressions on their faces. Gold placed the receiver back down and raised an eyebrow at his staff. "Well?"

The four all exchanged looks. "That sounded fun," began Emma and Gold glared at them.

"Were you expecting a grudge match over the phone?" asked Gold. "The man just showcased his dominance and insisted that we have the interview at the Vault and that he will pay. Friedrich won't mind and I'm sure her majesty won't say that it's unethical."

"Maybe because you're the one writing it," said David. "If that were me, she'd probably shoot down the idea."

"You want us to back you up?" asked Killian. "We could get a table and watch you from afar."

"I sort of agree with him, Adam," began Ashley. "The Vault, private booth...who knows what he has plans for you."

"I'll be fine," said Gold but he was also worried about what was to come a day from now. "If I'm not back by 3 have someone call Graham."

"That's reassuring," began Emma but she nodded. "You sure? I mean Killian's idea might actually be a good thing."

"But Greene will be unto to us," argued David. "Not a good thing to give him cause to raise suspicion on us."

"David's right," said Gold. "I'll be fine. Greene won't try anything and he knows that the Times knows about the interview so if I disappear, he'll just be the prime suspect."

"And since campaign period has started," began a new voice as Blue entered the office. "He won't risk his chances of losing just to get back at our Adam here."

The three writers and assistant all turned to their boss and reluctantly nodded and left the room. Blue closed the door and sat in front of Gold's desk. "I assume you have a date set already?"

"Lunch, day after," Greene insisted we have it at the Vault and he'll pay," said Gold and Blue didn't react. "What's wrong Rhea?"

"Peter Malcolm also insisted that he provide lunch," explained Blue. "We're doing it at his home."

"I can reassign this to Marco if you prefer," began Gold. "I know you and Malcolm have a history-"

"A history we've both put past us, Adam," cut off Blue. "I'm alright with it. I actually came to ask if you have any guide for me since the piece on him is different than the other candidate profiles we've done."

"Of course," replied Gold as he turned back to his computer but then a thought came to Gold and he sharply looked back at Blue. "Rhea, I know this is none of my business but you may help us crack an angle."

"What is it?" asked Blue, confused but at the same time interested in helping her colleague.

"We believe Greene has something on Malcolm," began Gold as he handed her his phone and Blue replayed the video that Killian had captured days prior. "Do you think it has anything to do with your best friend?"

"Maybe," began Blue as she handed Gold his phone back. "Vivienne and Malcolm were dating back when I was still in the United Kingdom. We were all in secondary school at that time and Malcolm's family were thinking about relocating. Things didn't end well and they parted ways. That was really my only interaction with Malcolm. But as you know, Vivienne died around 6-7 months after Malcolm and his family left to live here."

"I may be jumping to conclusions here," began Gold. "Do you think he had a hand in her death?"

"No," said Blue after thinking about it. "When I say things didn't end well, it's really because of Vivienne's parents, specifically her mother. Her parents weren't the picture of a happy couple if you will. Sure they loved each other but they only did stay married because of Vivienne."

"Are they still alive?" asked Gold.

"Not sure on that part," said Blue, looking a little sad and Gold felt guilty for probing her on the matter. "Her father disappeared when Vivienne died and I never really kept in touch with her mother. Her mother disliked Malcolm and she down right detested me." She turned to Gold with a shrug. "Sorry I wasn't more of a help."

"You have," said Gold, as he leaned back in his chair. "Malcolm's personal life is a mystery. Whatever Greene has on Malcolm has to be big for him to be that paranoid. I don't think it's his past then since I'm pretty sure he's told his husband about his past with Vivienne."

"Yes," began Blue. "With the times I've met Peter and Felix, Felix does know of our mutual friend."

"Do you think he loved her?" Gold found himself asking.

Blue sighed. "In all honesty, yes I think he did. But I guess fate had other plans for the both of them. I'm just sorry I wasn't there when Vivienne needed me the most. She never said she was facing problems with the break-up when we exchanged letters."

"Why did she die?" asked Gold, trying to piece together a part of Malcolm's life in a way that might help them help the Education minister.

"Car accident," said Blue. "I don't really know much of the details except for what her parents told me. Drunk driver struck her and she lost control. Dead on impact."

"I'm sorry," began Gold, leaning forward on his desk to eye Blue.

"It's been 40 years," began Blue. "I've moved on. Sure there's still that regret that maybe I should have stayed with Vivienne during those times but I had to be with my family. I do think about what it would have been like if she were still alive...I think she would have been working for the Times as well. She was really great with words as well." She sighed then turned back to Gold. "I'll try and get a hold of her father. He might have more to share about Malcolm's past."

"Thank you," said Gold as he handed her the printed guide for the interview. "I've sent it to you as well in case you need a digital copy"

"Thanks," said Blue as she rose. "And fair warning, you might need to do a miracle of edits to have my piece. I was never a writer to begin with."

"You'll do fine," said Gold as Blue left the office. "Ashley could you call Killian and David for me."

"What's up boss?" asked the two as they entered the office.

"Blue's given me another angle," began Gold. "Malcolm's ex-girlfriend, Vivienne. You can ask her for more details. She's going to try and track down Vivienne's father. I want a background if we can get anything."

"You think this is what Greene has on Malcolm?" asked David.

"Maybe," began Gold as he stood from his chair. "Or it could be nothing. Either way, I want someone working on Malcolm's angle while the rest focuses on Greene and his ex-wife."

"Deceased ex-wife," said Killian. "Maybe that's the connection."

"I hope not," said Gold as he followed his writer's out his office. "If we want to help Peter Malcolm from Zozo Greene, covering up murder is where I draw the line."

* * *

"It's such a pleasure to you have you join us for lunch Rhea," greeted Felix as he led Rhea to the kitchen where they were to dine. "Peter's just fixing himself upstairs. I told him that you already had a picture of him to use but he insisted."

"Yes Jefferson has said that he already organized that with you and Wendy," replied Blue, thinking that she was expected to make a comment. In all honesty, she was sorely tempted to take Adam on his offer of changing her interview subject. But everyone was already good with their tasks and Blue just had to stomach talking to Peter Malcolm for the next hour or so.

"I just want to be presentable Felix," came a voice from the staircase and Peter Malcolm descended to the ground floor in a white polo shirt tucked into his grey slacks and wearing leather loafers. "Nice to see you again, Blue."

She wanted to correct him that only friends and family could call her Blue, but swallowed her pride and took the offered hand. "Peter."

They proceeded with lunch with the occasional casual conversation until Malcolm finally excused the two of them and proceeded to the Education Minister's study to conduct the interview.

To say that there was no love lost between the two of them was an understatement. She had never approved of Malcolm for Vivienne but supported her decision when the two had become a couple only for Malcolm to break her heart which made Rhea want to charge the man even if he did live right across the world.

The interview continued with strictly business, not chatter between the two and was only interrupted when Felix entered and brought them some tea and biscuits. Felix offered her a lovely smile but glared at his husband and promptly left them to finish the interview.

"Well I guess that's that," said Blue as she turned the recorder on her phone off. "Thank you for accepting my interview offer quite promptly. I'll get this to Adam and I'll let you know when the piece will be out."

"Thank you," replied Malcolm. Both made no attempt to get out of their respective chairs and Malcolm sighed. "Rhea, I-"

"There is nothing that you can possibly want to say to me that I would like to hear Mr. Malcolm," cut off Blue as she fixed her things. "I'd best head back."

"i just wanted to apologize-"

"Your apology doesn't undo what you did or bring her back," hissed Blue as she stood. "So don't waste your breathe."

"I'm not responsible for her death," came the angry reply and Malcolm towered over her. "I'm just trying to be a decent human being and comfort a friend."

Blue laughed bitterly. "Friend? You consider me to be your friend? We were never friends, Malcolm. I knew you were going to break her heart. I should have argued more with her to save her from the pain you were going to cause."

"Well by all means say it then," said Malcolm. "Say it, or would you prefer we stand on her grave so you can say to her 'I told you so'."

"How dare you say that," said Blue, one more push and she would slap the man hard across the face. "She was my best friend! I cared for her like a sister and I just wanted what was best for her."

"You don't get to decide who Vivienne has feelings for or not," fired Malcolm. "Despite your dislike for me, Vivienne and I loved each other."

"Oh really," challenged Blue. "Why do I find that hard to believe?" She moved closer to the man and stared him down. "You played with her feelings. You acted like you cared about her when we both know you just wanted someone to call a girlfriend back then. The first chance you got of leaving, you did. You didn't even try to stay behind because you were afraid of commitment." The two glared at each other, both not backing down. "You know what, I'm glad you ran before things became too serious. At least then it was only Vivienne you abandoned and nobody else."

It took all of Malcolm's self-restraint not to sigh in relief. Blue didn't know and if she didn't then Vivienne only told her parents about what had happened. "I didn't kill her, Rhea."

"Yeah well you might as well have been that drunk driver who did," said Blue, turning her back to him and getting her things. "In my book, you're even worse. Don't bother Mr. Malcolm, I'll see myself out."

She didn't dare turn to face him or look him in the eye because one more minute and she would burst into tears. She walked briskly out of the house to the car Leroy had parked in the driveway. The man was kind enough to offer his services for that afternoon.

"Back to the office- hey are you ok?" asked Leroy as she got in. He studied her face which was very very close to breaking down and crying the entire ride. "Blue, what's wrong?"

"Nothing," said Blue, hurriedly buckling her seat belt. "Let's just go, please."

"Wait!" came the call and both Blue and Leroy turned to see Felix rushing to the car. "Rhea, if I may."

Blue sighed and rolled down the window. "Felix you don't have to-"

"I would like to apologize all the same," replied Felix. "He's been acting strangely for the past two weeks now." He sighed and turned his head back to look at the house then back to Blue. "I know you two have a history but he does regret what happened to Vivienne and if he could go back and tell her that himself, he would."

Blue could only nod, already aware that her eyes were starting to water. "I'm sorry and thank you for your hospitality Felix. We'd best get back to our office."

"Of course," said Felix in defeat. "I just...you're his last link to his early life Rhea. I know you were never close friends but I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive him."

Leroy did the smart thing and got them out of the Malcolm residence without another word. He kept looking at her but Blue just sighed and let her tears fell, her hand rubbing her temple in an effort to control herself.

Peter Malcolm was a constant reminder of her failure as a friend and confidant to one of the people very important to her life. She didn't lie when she told Adam that she had put it past her but it still felt like a stab in the chest every time she saw Malcolm, happy and contented with his life. Vivienne should have had the same. Instead, she had died young leaving everyone who knew her with regrets.

She sighed and wiped her face with her handkerchief. "Thank you, Leroy."

"No worries sister," came the gruff reply but the man turned to her. "You sure you want to head back to the office. I could drop you off at your place?"

"I'll be fine," said Blue. "I need to talk to Adam." She noted how Felix had mentioned that Malcolm has been acting strangely for the past two weeks and it fit with the video Adam had showed her the previous day. To add, why with Malcolm apologize for Vivienne now after all the years they have stumbled upon each other in Storybrooke? Adam was right, there was something up with Malcolm and it had something to do with his past, specifically with Vivienne Avalon.

* * *

"You sure you're alright?" asked Milah as she offered a Blue a cup of tea. The two women plus Regina and Sidney were all in Adam's office discussing what had transpired.

"Brilliant," replied Blue which earned her a glare from the younger woman. "Sorry, I'm still in that kind of mood." She turned to the owner of the office. "Has David and Killian found anything yet?"

"Not yet," said Gold as he leaned back on his desk, arms on either side as he steadied his posture. "But I'm sure they'll get something."

"I'll try and find her father tomorrow," said Blue as she placed the now empty cup on the coffee table.

"I wonder what it is that has Malcolm all worked up," wondered Sidney out loud. "And from what I gather, his husband doesn't know."

"I draw the line of doing a sympathy piece if it's murder," said Regina as she turned to Gold who rolled his eyes and gave a sarcastic chuckle.

"What do you take me for, Regina?" said Gold, not looking at her. "I'm not that low just to get a story." He turned to Blue and his gaze softened. "I'm sorry I put you through that. I should have assigned it to someone else."

"You offered and I declined, remember," replied Blue. "I thought I could do it...but at least it does confirm our suspicion."

"Not exactly," said Milah. "It doesn't confirm it per se but does point us to a right direction. Whatever Greene has on Malcolm, it may tie up with him nevertheless and we can use it on both men."

"It cannot be tied to Greene altogether though," reasoned Sidney.

"Yeah but he is using it against a current public minister," reasoned Regina. "That's still blackmail."

"I'm more curious on Malcolm in all honesty," began Gold. "If this is about his past with Vivienne Avalon then why did he bury it for the past 4 decades?"

"It's that big," said Regina. "Which is why I am suggesting you bring someone with you tomorrow. We all know how dangerous Greene is. He has something on politicians and we never know what he'll do to a journalist."

"It's a public place though," argued Sidney. "I'm sure Greene won't try anything."

"Not unless Adam here pisses him off," said Milah and she gave her best friend a hard stare. "Please promise us you won't rile up the beast."

"I'll try?" offered Gold and everyone in the room gave him a scathing look. "The man walks with a smug look on his face that just dares everyone to piss him off."

"Adam please," said Regina. "I don't want a repeat of what happened to Dove, especially when it's you."

"I'll be on my best behaviour," said Gold, raising his hands in surrender.

Regina studied him for a moment then turned to Blue. "If he doesn't check in at 3 pm tomorrow, I'm calling Graham."

"I'd tell him now," said Milah. "Just so he's informed and so that he can be on guard in case he sees any of Greene's men carrying a body bag to the docks."

Gold glared at her who only managed to shrug in reply. "Better safe than sorry."

"More like paranoid," mumbled Gold as he rounded his desk and sat down on his chair. "The only thing we can do at this point is look for more facts. The interview tomorrow may or may not help us to finally get Greene but I assure you I will not value a news article over my own life."


	7. Chapter 7

_Take a guess on who our new character is. And I wrote this even before the episode aired :)_

Chapter 7

"I don't really see how this is necessary."

"Complain all you want Adam but I am not going to be leaving the parking lot of the Vault without you," grumbled Ethan Dove as the two of them drove to the interview of Zozo Greene. Ethan was due back the following week. But when Killian, Emma and David had informed the taller man what was going to transpire at lunch today, Ethan Dove waited by his editor's car and held out his hand for the keys.

Gold could only glare as he handed the man his car keys and got in the passenger seat. "Ethan, I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself."

"I trust you," said Ethan, focusing on the road. "It's Greene I have my doubts."

"It's not like he can do a bloody thing while we're in a public place," grumbled Gold as he leaned back in the passenger seat.

"The Vault is his second liar, Adam," replied Dove. "No way is that considered a public place."

"Well there'll still be other people there besides Greene and myself," argued Gold. "But you want to waste your time waiting in my car, then so be it."

"I won't be wasting my time," mumbled Dove. "Don't you know how many people want updates on your little interview today. Milah has asked me to check-in every five minutes, Regina every ten. Not to mention our entire section wanting any updates as soon as they come."

"What is this? A live broadcast or something?" complained Gold, glaring at his writer. "Nothing is going to happen in this interview."

"And everyone is praying for that," said Dove as he made the final turn towards The Vault. Dove parked the car and Gold immediately got out and slammed his door closed.

"And what are you supposed to eat then?" asked Gold as Dove got out of the car as well and Gold glared at him over the car's roof. "It's not like I can invite you in."

"I came prepared," replied Dove, showing his editor the backpack he had with him. "Food, binoculars, basically a stakeout kit. I even have a first-aid kit just in case."

Gold rolled his eyes in annoyance as he sighed and leaned his hands on the roof of the car. Dove knew this look. Gold was nervous and he had every reason to be. "Boss, I'll be here. In case anything goes south, I'm here and I'll alert Graham and the rest as soon as possible."

"It's not that," said Gold, keeping his gaze on the ground. "Just…stay here." Gold walked up to the restaurant without another word and Dove got back inside the car.

It wasn't that Gold didn't appreciate the concern from all his colleagues and friends. But that concern was putting them at risk. Gold could stomach being in danger, for himself. As Milah had once told him, he has no concern for himself whatsoever. But for other people? Gold would willingly use his own body as a shield for anyone he cares about. If he was going to go after Greene, then let the man come after him and nobody else.

Dove got hurt because of him. This time, Greene was going to hurt anyone else. Gold would handle this by himself to make sure nobody he cares about gets hurt again.

True to his word, Greene had reserved a booth near the back of the restaurant and from experience Gold knew that those parts of the Vault were usually reserved for high paying customers.

"Ah Adam!" said Greene as he caught site of the editor. To Gold's surprise, the table had two other occupants. "Just in time."

"Mr. Greene," greeted Gold politely, taking the offered hand. "I wasn't expecting other interviewees."

"Oh we're going to be heading out already," came the flirtatious reply from Zelena Greene, Zozo's only daughter from his first marriage. Gold had to bite down a groan.

"You remember my daughter Zelena, don't you," asked Zozo as Zelena stood and took Gold's hand without the man offering it.

"How can I forget?" mumbled Gold but gave the redhead a smile as she shook his hand. "Ms. Greene."

"Oh Mr. Gold please," replied Zelena, not letting go of his hand. 'Call me Zelena."

Gold couldn't help but shudder at the thought. Zelena Greene had been to many events with her father and Gold had many the unfortunate circumstances of crossing paths with her and her very curious and wandering hands. He still couldn't believe what Emma and Mary Margaret had told him before, back when they had attended a benefit. Both women of his staff had pointed out that Zelena was attracted to him. Him of all people?

Zelena was young, beautiful yes but certainly not his time and with the age difference shouldn't be her type as well. But the girl still followed him like a predator to its prey every time they are in the same vicinity.

"We'd best leave these two to their interview, my dear," came the voice of another woman and Gold turned to her and he was met with the same brown eyes. "Go easy on my husband, Mr. Gold."

"My duty is to help people decide on a candidate Mrs. Greene," replied Gold, not breaking the eye contact with the older woman. Gold felt uneasy around her, more so than with Zozo Greene and that was already unsettling. He needed to watch out for this woman as well. "I can always promise to be unbiased for this interview."

"That's all we can ask," replied Mrs. Greene with a ghost of a smile. "Come Zelena."

Looked like he had to watch out for all the members of the Greene family. He just didn't know which one was the most dangerous.

"It was nice seeing you again, Mr. Gold," said Zelena as she placed a hand on Gold's arm, the motion caressing and her eyes told a whole different story.

Most dangerous...yup Zelena.

Gold cleared his throat as the two women left and he and Zozo remained standing. Zozo motioned with his hand for Gold to sit and they did so at the same time.

"I don't know about you but I am famished," said Zozo as he ordered and the waiter for Gold to decide. The interview would be after they had eaten and basically this was the prelude to Gold's...well he himself didn't know but whatever was going to happen, it was going to decide the stalemate that he and Greene had been in since Dove was put in the hospital.

Winning wasn't a concrete thing in this war between the Times and Greene...well it was more of Gold and Greene these days with Gold wanting nothing more than to best Greene in anything really. May it be at words games, this interview or actually managing to pin something on the man that could land him in jail or a big controversy that will make sure he won't get elected. Either way, it was time for Gold to up his ante.

"So who gets to be published this Sunday?" asked Zozo as they ate. The interview was after they had cleaned their plates but of course silence wasn't something Zozo liked especially with company like Adam Rumford Gold.

"We did a piece of the same nature with Minister Peter Malcolm," said Gold, trying to keep his voice neutral as possible. "He's said before that after this term, he was going to retire. We try and do a feature on retiring public figures as much as we can."

"It is a sad time for the Education sector to see Peter retire," began Greene. "But I guess he would prefer to spend the remainder of his life in quiet retirement with Felix."

"Yes," began Gold. "We managed to talk to him this week as well. That'll start of our election special."

And that was it, the talks have moved to the election and Gold had readied his recorder and notebook to jot down some notes. Greene was true to his word. He was well-versed with the current issues that current politicians were facing and he had a plan for many of them.

But as Gold soon found out, his primary focus was on the budget and finance sectors. No surprise there. Greene would of course go to where the money was. He continued to talk about utilizing the private sector to help with some infrastructure developments and that there was no harm in the cooperation of government offices and businesses. Gold had to bite back his retort or any comment for that matter.

The interview continued and Gold knew Greene was in it to impress. The man had studied up and did his homework...politically. But Gold still had something up his sleeve.

"I guess that's the technical side of it," said Gold as he studied his notes.

"Well that was rather enjoyable," replied Greene. "Is there anything else, Adam?"

"Yes, that was just the first part, Mr. Greene," replied Gold as he unfolded a paper from his jacket. "This being a feature piece, we try to make our introduction and writing not as straightforward as possible. The objective of the piece is to help voters get to know their candidates, public and private life." Gold had emphasized the second to the last word and Greene wasn't taken aback by it, although Gold did notice him stiffen. He wasn't prepared for questions of this nature and Gold refrained from smiling.

"Painting a picture that candidates are ordinary people as well," said Greene. "Yes of course. What do you need to know?"

"Oh the usual things," said Gold. "Date of birth, school graduated, married life-"

"I don't think married life is an important aspect of-"

"We use it most of the time, Mr. Greene," said Gold which was true since they would either squeeze in facts and tidbits about the candidates within the articles. "It pretty much humanizes the candidates, that whatever us ordinary citizens are going through, candidates do them as well. It is known that voters tend to go with candidates that are similar to their own lives."

Gold knew Greene was running over what he could say inside that manipulative brain of his and Gold did not wait to give him a fighting chance. "You were first married to Glinda White weren't you?"

"Yes, I was," said Greene, the usual spring in his voice gone. "Married for about 10 years before her risk-taking tendencies with businesses and stocks got her. I filed for divorce just as she was about to turn us bankrupt. I had Zelena to look after of course."

"And you met the current Mrs. Greene when exactly?" asked Gold.

"Five years after my divorce," replied Greene. "I was in the United Kingdom for a conference and she lived there of course but I guess you could say love makes us do crazy things. I flew in and out of the UK for a year or two until we finally decided to marry. And married we have ever since."

"I understand Mrs. Greene was also previously married?" began Gold, checking his own data in his head to be sure.

"Yes, but unfortunately my wife's previous husband died during a car accident, along with their daughter." explained Greene. "She never really thought about having another child herself but she welcomed Zelena with open arms."

"You've been quoted saying that Mrs. Greene was your lucky charm," continued Gold. "Care to elaborate?"

"Well business turned in my favor ever since I married her," said Greene, slowly as though thinking his words over his head. "When I was doing business with Glinda, it was always about taking risks...but afterwards I had to think about the long term effects and all that."

"Of course," said Gold, noting that down. "Did you ever wonder whatever happened with your previous wife? As I understand, she was reported missing a year after you had your falling out."

"It wasn't a falling out per se," began Greene, his voice suddenly sharp. "We grew apart yes but we decided to remain friends."

"I think that was a one sided decision, Mr. Greene," began Gold. "She was quoted to say that the years she spent with you were the worst of her life and that if she could stop herself from doing so, she would."

"She could have been drunk when she said that, no surprises there," replied Greene all too quickly. "We fell out of love but we remained friends and I was saddened to hear of her disappearance. I did warn her that her reckless business deals would eventually get her back. She was close to hitting the big zero with her investments at that time and I was told that she was dealing with some frowned upon people."

"The case was considered cold with no leads after some time," began Gold. "Do you ever wish you found out what had happened to her?"

"There's only one option for that Mr. Gold," replied Greene and Gold noted the change from Adam to the more formal title. "But one can hope. I do think it's the more grave option though...why would she have abandoned her own daughter if she was out there somewhere."

"So you're saying that she left on her own accord and not killed as the authorities believe," asked Gold.

"Whatever happened to her," began Greene, taking a sip from his glass. "She's no longer part of my life and I try not to dwell on the past so much. Just like you I imagine." He eyed the editor and Gold remained stoic. "The famous Adam Rumford Gold, orphaned at birth only to be found by three ladies in the marketplace in Scotland with nothing but a blanket and a small straw doll."

It was meant to be a jest but Gold knew it was an attempt to regain control of the conversation but one thing struck Gold and he filed it away to deal with later. "The cases are different, Mr. Greene. I'm sorry if I had insulted you in any manner."

"You didn't," replied Greene. "But please do explain how are the circumstances different?"

"Well how can I care about two people who gave birth to me if I had never met them in the first place," replied Gold. "You on the other hand spent 10 years with Glinda White. You had a daughter with her. You both managed her family's initial investments and businesses and when things went dire, according to yourself, you fell out of love and separated. You say that you remained friends but your ex-wife says otherwise. And then of course she disappears, never to be heard from again."

"Is there any point to this?" asked Greene, his voice dangerously low but Gold found the entire situation amusing...he had won the battle of wits and Greene could do nothing about it.

"Of course Mr. Greene," said Gold as he pocketed his notebook and recorder. "I need to get the facts straight. I wouldn't want to paint the wrong picture about a candidate such as yourself."

"Of course," said Greene through gritted teeth. He knew Gold was fishing but he dare not give the man any opening. "For my side, I've always considered Glinda my friend after our marriage ended. She's Zelena's mother and the poor girl was devastated when her mother disappeared."

Gold thought it was time to reel it in, make Greene think that conversation is a positive one. "And can you say it was also a tough time for you as well? That it served as a stepping stone to help others? You started your foundation afterwards, if I am not mistaken?"

Gold could see how Greene was taken aback. The previous line of questioning had a negative appeal but Gold had turned it 360 degrees.

"Well yes," began Greene, his voice lightening up. "We started helping children without parents get into schools...only one did manage to finish."

"Yes, Walter Oz, part of the Storybrooke Force," added Gold, feigning interest.

"The foundation then grew in supporting other causes," continued Greene and then chuckled. "If I had known this is where your line of questioning was heading, I wouldn't have snapped at you Adam. My ex-wife leaving my daughter is just a testy subject for me and I apologize."

"Leaving you, you mean," thought Gold to himself but smiled and said to Zozo, "No need for apologies Mr. Greene."

They ended the interview and Gold declined the offer of another drink.

"I can't wait to read the article," began Greene as they both stood and Gold was about to take his leave. "Thank you for today, Adam."

Gold faked a smile and retreated before he could say anything else, or ask how Zozo Greene knew that he was found in the market with a straw doll because not even Milah and Bae knew about Peter Pan.

Before he could reach the exit though, a taller man walked straight at him.

"Excuse me," said the man not bothering to turn and see who he had bumped into. "Wasn't looking, bit of a hurry."

Gold made to reply but the man soon was out of earshot, his stride not breaking and soon disappeared further into the restaurant. Gold made to brush the incident aside but that was thrown out the window when he felt a piece of paper in his pocket that wasn't there before.

 _We need to talk. Rather urgent. Meet you at the Crossroads at 9. - H_

Gold groaned. Given the place, 'H' could only mean one person and he was not in the mood to talk to this man. He wasn't nicknamed 'Lord of the Underworld' for nothing.

* * *

Mrs. Greene was relieved to see her husband smiling as he had returned home. "I'm guessing it went well?"

"More than well," replied Zozo as he poured himself a drink. "Adam Gold may be a nuisance sometimes but he has his moments."

"Why so?"

"Using Glinda as the reason why I turned warrior for the masses," explained Zozo. "I don't doubt he might go back on what he said but this sprouted a very grand idea on my part. Maybe I don't have to stop them from digging about Glinda, I just need them to find the right bit of information."

"And withhold the rest?" asked Mrs. Greene but she had a smile on her face. In all honesty, she did not agree with Zozo's rash action of attacking the Times, it will for sure go back and hit him hard. At least with this, he could still get away with things.

"Right in one," said Zozo raising his glass to his wife. "Where's Zelena?"

"With Mr. Oz," replied Mrs. Greene, rising from her seat and walking towards her husband's desk.

"Well…" began Zozo. "At least we know what Walsh's intentions are."

"And his priorities are in check," added Mrs. Greene. "But in any event, at least we know our dear Mr. Walter Oz will never go against our wishes."

"He'll never hurt Zelena as he'll never betray us my dear," said Zozo with a sly smile. "You should really learn to trust people more."

"The word is cautious my dear Zozo," replied Mrs. Greene with a smile. "In any event, Zelena has Mr. Oz at the palm of her hand. I do feel bad that the feeling isn't mutual."

"Yeah well talk to her about it," grunted Zozo. "Why she has this infatuation with Adam Ruford Gold is beyond me."

He drained his glass before addressing his wife again. "By the way, I noticed a certain Mr. Donn at the Vault today. Pity, you missed him." The change in his tone made Mrs. Greene sigh.

"Zozo how many times do I have to tell you, Harry Donn is just a friend." said Mrs. Greene. "He's a bit eccentric yes and a huge flirt but you are my husband, are you not?"

"And wouldn't you humor your husband by no longer supplying whatever it is that Donn wants from you?" argued Zozo. "I know you've have deals in the past but can't you end it already? Donn is asking for a punch in the face and one of these days I might just give it to him."

"Did he talk to you?"

"No," came the short reply and Zozo turned back to his now empty glass.

"Did he insult you?"

"No."

"Zozo, I'm not going to even voice out what you're acting like right now," replied Mrs. Greene as she made her way out of her husband's study. "Come see me when you've grown up."

"Darling, I'm sorry," began Zozo as Mrs. Greene was halfway out the door. "It's just….that Donn really gets on my nerves even when I just see him. Thinks he's far above all of us."

"Well he is technically," said Mrs. Greene, not losing her harsh tone. "He's brothers, including him, are top players in their respective fields. Why you need to feel jealous when you yourself are respected and have a loyal wife is beyond me?"

"I know and I do apologize," said Zozo as he stood and made his way to his wife. "It's just I envy the history you share with one another and how you can clearly rely on him."

"I don't rely on him, Zozo," said Mrs. Greene. "He relies on me and I tend to maximize that."

Zozo swallowed. He hated disappointing his wife and this showcase of jealousy was one of the things she hated. She had never felt that way whenever Zozo had deals with other women but here he was at the thought of just one man being friendly with his current wife, going all green with envy.

"I'm sorry N-"

"Apology accepted and let's move on, Zozo," came the harsh reply and Mrs. Greene left the study.

Zozo sighed and rubbed the top of his head. Oh he needed to either buy an expensive set of earrings or flowers just to appease his seething wife. It was either that or invite Harry Donn to dinner and he was not going to subject himself to that torture.

* * *

Gold was surprised that it had gone past seven already. He had thought he had time to get home and changed before heading to the wine house for his meeting with Harry. Knowing the man, Gold would find him already nursing his fifth glass of wine by the time 9 o'clock arrived.

He was already turning his computer off when he noticed Ashley gathering some papers but not her own coat.

"Ashley, why are you still here?" asked Gold as he put on his own coat and turned off the lights to his office.

"Sorry," came the reply from the other side of the floor and Gold turned to see Mary Margaret sitting behind David's desk, typing furiously. "I borrowed some news archive from Ashley right when she was about to return them back there. I asked for a couple of minutes with them."

"I needed to organize them today because Killian and David said they were going to pull another set of files for their own research," explained Ashley as she gathered everything she could in her arms. "It'll eat there time if the other archives were actually here and not there."

Gold nodded as Mary Margaret finished with her typing and closed David's computer. "There, sent to my inbox. I'll help you bring those back down."

"It's after seven," began Gold. "You'll need to use the door on the side of the building to access the staircase leading down there." He studied his watch. He had time. "Why don't I help so we can get things moving faster and have you two back home to your respective boys."

The two women laughed as Gold took some files from Ashley and they headed to the Archives of Storybrooke Times. It could be accessed via the service elevator on the ground floor that only had the ground floor and the basement archives as its two serviced levels. The building usually turned the elevator off after seven and brings it back during working hours to save on energy since it's rarely used, most often only by news writers.

"What were you looking for?" asked Gold to his once writer. Gold loved Mary Margaret's style. She was gentle in interviews but her articles were very direct and had very powerful statements.

"Cultural Heritage," explained Mary Margaret. "We've had news on different landmarks and festivals around and within Storybrooke. Since I'm already Arts and Books subsec head, I wanted to balance it with culture as well."

"That's a great idea," replied Gold.

"It was actually Belle's idea," said Mary Margaret as they exited the building and headed for the side door leading to the staircase to the basement. "She's wanted to do it for ages but ever since they were swarmed with manuscripts for the publishing side of the company, she hasn't had the time to do some digging."

"I'm sure she's thrilled with her idea being set in motion," said Gold with a smile. "Nice of you to do so."

"Oh, I'm always up for ideas," replied Mary Margaret as they reached the basement. "Where to Ashley?"

"Well these are at the farthest wall," replied Ashley as she made to turn on the light but nothing happened. "That's odd. Emma and David were down here earlier today and they didn't say the light was busted." She scanned the archives and there were a few light streams from the small panel near the ceiling. "There's a bit of light, think you guys can manage?"

"Just lead the way," replied Gold as he and Mary Margaret followed Ashley to the farthest wall of the room where a set of tables and chairs were situated for those who preferred to work in the basement instead of bringing the files back to their floor.

Mary Margaret moved to another row of shelves and began putting back the files she had while Ashley and Gold dumped theirs on the table.

"That's weird," said Ashley as she lifted a folder laying on the table. "This doesn't seem to be one of our files."

"What's in it?" asked Gold, as he began sorting to the files they had brought down.

"I don't really know," began Ashely as she tried to read in the dimly lit room. "Looks like interview notes and transcripts but-"

She was cut off by Mary Margaret's scream and Gold and Ashley scrambled to find her only for Ashley to be grabbed by a man in dark clothing and wearing a ski mask. Gold immediately grabbed the man's arm and wrestled him away from Ashley. But another man grabbed Gold by his shoulders and pushed him to one side. Gold collided with the table but regained his footing instantly and turned and landed a good punch at his attacker. From his peripheral vision, he saw both Ashley and Mary Margaret struggling with a man each, all wearing dark clothes and ski masks.

That proved to be a distraction the man he was fighting was looking for because he landed a good punch to Gold's stomach which sent the editor to the floor. The man then kicked at the right part and Gold struggled for air but as the man readied for another kick, Gold caught his foot and brought him to the floor.

He then wasted no time in taking down the man holding Mary Margaret, by grabbing one of the chairs and swinging it at the man's back.

The man holding Ashley seemed to be the leader because he threw Ashley to the ground and shouted for his conspirators to run. The two fallen men wasted no time in getting to their feet and bolting out the door.

Gold turned to his colleagues. "Are you alr-"

"We're fine," managed Mary Margaret, out of breathe.

"Go, you might see something to help us catch them," said Ashley hurriedly and God ran after the three men.

He could get a glimpse of a car if ever the men had an escape plan or even just a general direction of where they went if they do not split up. He could hear Ashley and Mary Margaret following from the top of the staircase but as soon as he opened the side door and stepped out, a loud bang wracked his ears and his head pulsed in agony. He could vaguely hear someone calling his name as everything went black.

* * *

 _Donn is Irish for something. In case you guys have not figured it out :)_


	8. Chapter 8

_Yes, Harry Donn is Hades._

Chapter 8

Harry Donn glanced back at his watch.

9:19

That was odd. Adam was never late for any sort of meeting. Usually when one says a time, Adam Rumford Gold would be there half an hour early. If something had come up, Adam was sure to give him a call. He was fairly obvious with the note and Adam for sure knew that it was him that had bumped into the editor back at the Vault earlier that day.

9:20

Harry sighed and ordered another wine. Ten more minutes and Harry was going to call it quits and just barged into the man's office first thing tomorrow morning…

But there was something amiss here and Harry couldn't help but feel a little worried.

Sure, he and Adam had their difference but when things were dire, they also had each other's back. Given the urgency of what he had found, Harry wanted nothing more than to inform his 'sort of' friend.

Harry was about to give up and leave when someone's familiar red hair caught his attention. True enough, there wa Zelena Greene sitting all alone at the bar, nursing a drink and looking...well looking down right miserable.

Harry felt his heart skip a beat. Sure he was older than her by a decade or so but damn the woman certainly could make his heart beat faster...or make it stop with a small smile. Adding the fact that Harry and Zelena's mother had prior business together..something which he is already thinking of ending.

Technically speaking though, Mrs. Greene wasn't biologically Zelena's mother and the older woman never really did adopt Zelena-ahhh! Harry shook his head. What the hell was he thinking? He's basically had this conversation in his head numerous times. No courting Zelena Greene. No getting involved with someone. No falling in love-

Harry swallowed and turned to Zelena who had her back to him. Nope, he was screwed. He had fallen and fallen hard for the red head. Harry was a businessman, ruthless to some, but even knew when he was beat and just go with it.

Deciding that Adam could wait if he did arrive, seeing that the editor made him do so, Harry took his glass and walked over to Zelena.

"Waiting for someone?" asked Harry as he settled his glass on the bar, leaning sideways as Zelena turned to her visitor. "Looks like you could use the company."

Zelena's smile was very bright and Harry found himself copying it. "Actually, I was just...well I just wanted to grab a drink." Zelena replied, her usual confidence wavering a little. "You?"

"Alas I appeared to have been stood up," said Harry in a meager attempt to be hurt. "And here I thought I could get lucky. He was a man afterall."

"Change in types, Mr. Donn?" asked Zelena with a glint in her eye and a mischievous smile.

"Well who says business and pleasure cannot be mixed?" teased Harry. "But sadly no, this was mostly business. Depressing though that even in business meetings, I get stood up."

Zelena laughed as Harry finally sat down beside her, leaning his arms on the bar. "Business meetings at this hour Mr. Donn, and here I thought you were fun and all."

"Oh believe me, Zelena," began Harry, leaning closer to her. "I can be fun if I want to be."

They shared a small smile and was Harry's mind playing tricks on him or was she leaning closer and closer to him...their lips almost close...but that was soon interrupted by Harry's phone going off. Harry mentally cursed it and didn't even bother to look at the caller, wanting nothing but to tell the person on the other end to go bother someone else.

"I'm rather busy at the moment, call back later," hissed Harry and he was about to hang-up when the frantic voice of Milah Spinner stopped him in his tracks.

"Harry, there's been an accident!"

* * *

"Damn it!"

David, Emma and Neal turned just in time to see Killian kick the vending machine in the waiting area hard. He leaned on it, head bent down. Emma turned to her co-worker and boyfriend before finally standing and walking over to Killian. She placed a hand on his shoulder reassuringly.

"Adam's tough Killian. He'll be alright." began Emma.

"Yeah and what would have happened to Ashley or Mary Margaret if Adam hadn't gone down to the archives with them?" growled Killian, keeping his head down. "Greene will pay for this."

"Easy Killian," said David from where he and Neal sat. "We don't know if it was really Greene or not."

"Who else could it have been?" demanded Killian looking up and glaring at David. "You're girlfriend-"

"Is fine so can we not argue at the waiting room just to let out some steam because we're all worried," came the strict voice of Mary Margaret as she arrived in the waiting room and David immediately stood and hugged her. "I'm fine, I promise."

"Where's Ashley?" asked Neal.

"Still being looked over," replied MaryMargaret with a smile. "Sean's with her." Emma noticed the bright smile and studied her. "Well she did say I could announce it. Ashley's pregnant!"

The room's atmosphere lightened a little with Mary Margaret's reassurance that everything was fine with Ashley and the baby and that the doctors just wanted to see how the baby was doing given that they had only found out about him or her just now.

"Any word on Adam?" asked Mary Margaret as she sat beside David.

"None yet," replied Neal. "Milah and the other board members are speaking with Graham. Belle and Ethan went to get Bae. Victor hasn't come out to give us an update but I think he's only going to give it to either Milah, Belle or Bae."

"Give Whale a little credit," began Emma, pacing the waiting area. "He knows how we all care about Adam. I'm sure he'll give us an update when he can."

"When he can," voiced out Killian who finally stood and leaned back on the nearby wall, arms crossed in front of him. "Given that we haven't heard a thing just tells me that-"

"Killian stop it, man," began Neal. "It won't do any of us good by thinking like pessimists."

"No I'm being a realist," fired back Killian but at everyone's glare, sighed and let his tough act drop. "I know...I'm just worried."

Silence descended upon them after that. It was truth for everyone of them. All thinking the same thing...was Adam ok?

The doors to the waiting area opened and admitted most of the board and editors of the Times with Graham Hunter, sheriff of Storybrooke with his deputy Eric Docks, the husband of Regina's secretary, Ariel.

"Has Victor dropped by?" asked Milah, her face clearly conveyed the worry she felt. Killian immediately wrapped his arms around her and Milah hid her face in Killian's chest.

"No word," answered David as the board and management sat in the waiting area.

"We'd best head back to the station," said Graham but he turned to Neal and Emma. "Keep me updated."

"Where's Ashley?" asked Eric.

"With Sean," replied Mary Margaret. "I think he dropped everything to come hear. They're back in the ER."

"You can go and see if they need a ride, Eric," said Graham. "I can finish up at the station and have Walter do some final rounds at the Times."

Eric nodded and the left. Graham turned to Regina. "I can assign an officer to stand guard if you want."

Regina turned to her staff but shook her head. "No, I think there won't be a second round to finish the job. Whatever they were planning, it wasn't this."

"Agreed," replied Graham. "I'd best get back to Ruby and tell her what has happened." He left the waiting area just as another man entered the room much to Emma and Killian's glare.

"I assure you I come in peace," said Harry Donn, a little out of breathe as he turned to Milah and Regina. "A word."

Killian made to reply but one look from Milah silenced him. "I called him, Killian. He and Adam were suppose to talk tonight."

"And I got stood up," added Harry. "Although circumstances are of course understandable."

"For all we know, he could have orchestrated this," growled Killian but turning to Milah.

"I'll have you know I consider Adam a friend," hissed Harry as he advanced on Killian but Regina stood between them.

"Enough," warned Regina, her voice making no room for arguments. She turned to Harry. "Hallway, now."

Harry glared at Killian one last time before leaving the waiting area with Milah and Regina. "That boyfriend of yours sure has a temper."

"Like you don't," replied Milah. "You can probably set your hair on fire with your own bloody temper."

"Look," began Regina, taking charge of the conversation before things got out of hand again. "We're all just stressed and worried. What did you manage to find out Harry?"

"Hodor and his men weren't at their usual drinking place," replied Harry. "I've asked my people to search and there's no trace of them. That usually happens when Greene has something planned."

Milah shared a look with Regina. They were all thinking it. Greene had something to do with this. "I was there at the Vault earlier...it looked like everything went alright. Greene was all smiles, not his usual fake ones for the press, when the interview ended."

Milah had called Harry to be her eyes and ears at the Vault while Adam had his interview. Sure Ethan was waiting outside but he had no access to the interview itself. Harry on the other hand could be seen in the Vault without raising suspicion and be able to give Milah a heads up in case things turned south.

"What else did Sheriff Hunter find?" asked Harry as he leaned on the wall where he stood.

"Nothing much," replied Regina. "Except that there were files scattered everywhere. They've collected most of those not properly kept in case they have prints or something but I doubt it. Mary Margaret and Ashley both remembered the men wearing gloves."

"I don't get it," sighed Harry. "This doesn't sound like Greene's MO. He was too happy at the end of the interview and even when I could hear them, Greene was too engrossed with himself. Adam was actually on his best behaviour."

"Then what was this?" asked Milah, on the verge of tears once again. She couldn't even bare to tell her own son what had happened and Belle was good enough to offer to get the boy with Ethan.

"Whatever it is," began Harry, running a hand over his hair. "I don't think it was Greene's intention to get Adam to the hospital."

The trio fell into silence as they waited for any news. Regina then turned to Harry, "Why did you want to meet Adam tonight?"

"He asked me if I had anything on Peter Malcolm a couple of days ago," explained Harry. "I told him I didn't but I could look into it if it had something to do with our mutual enemy."

"Enemy of my enemy is my friend," added Regina. "Found anything."

"Possibly," said Harry, lowering his voice as he turned to see if there was anyone else in the hallway. "Peter Malcolm has buried something for most of his adult life and apparently only found out about it during the last decade or so…"

* * *

Adam's head was killing him as he slowly became aware that he couldn't remember what had happened and where the hell he was.

'I think he's waking up," came a female voice from a distance and Adam wanted nothing more than to question the person but all that came out of his mouth was a pained groan.

"Easy Adam," whispered another voice, this time male. "Try opening your eyes."

The request took a little time for Adam's brain to process but slowly he did try to blink his eyes open only to shut them and groan in pain again.

He heard movement and then the man's voice whispered again, "Try now Adam."

Adam hesitated but slowly opened his eyes again. He was relieved to see that the room was dimly lit and he could make out blurry forms of two people in the room, one on each of his side. He let his eyes focus and finally recognize Milah and Victor looking down at him, concern written all over their faces.

"Hey," offered Victor. "You in the room with us."

"Getting there," replied Adam, his voice hoarse and his throat felt like a desert. Milah must have read that on his face as she offered him a glass of water.

"Gently, Adam," said Milah as she helped him slowly take small sips.

Adam drank and felt his throat sang in relief as the cool liquid raced down and eased his throat. "Thank you," he could only whisper. "What happened?"

"Bullet graze to your head and your fall wasn't that gentle either" said Victor in a low voice as not to aggravate him. "You hit your head pretty bad on the wall and on the ground on your way down. Seeing your reaction to light earlier, I'm putting this down as a concussion."

Adam could only stare at him down. How in heaven's name did he get shot at?

Seeing his confused face, Victor asked him, "What's the last thing you remember?"

"I…" began Adam but couldn't bring himself to recall anything much. "I was in my office...I think."

"Concussion alright," repeated Victor. "You were in and out of sciousness when you were brought to my ER. Sometimes responsive, sometimes not."

Adam closed his eyes and tried to recall what had happened. Images blurred and mixed together in rapid successions that his hand was up cradling his head in an instant.

"Ashley, Mary Margaret," he rasped and Milah took the unoccupied hand to anchor him back.

"They're alright," assured Milah. "They're fine. As you are too, just gave us quite the scare."

Adam relaxed a little at Milah's words and slowly sank back down on the bed, eyes blinking open. "How long?"

"It happened around 8 and it's now midnight," replied Milah as Victor took some notes on Adam's chart.

"What I mean," began Adam, turning to Victor. "How long am I here for?"

Milah resisted the urge to giggle as Victor glared at his patient.

"As long as I want, Adam," retorted Victor, closing the editor's chart and giving Adam his most terrifying doctor glare. "I mean it. Sure you're coherent and conscious now but you were in and out of consciousness and I want to make sure there's no additional brain damage to the one you already have. You know the pig-headed stubborn one that you've had since I've known you."

Milah smiled as the two men exchanged glares. "The only reason that I could have been in and out of consciousness is because you drugged me."

"I had to stitch you up, in the head, if I may add," hissed Victor, still not bringing his voice up. "Next time I won't give you a shot then."

"Thank you, Victor," said Milah before Adam could counter. "Could you tell the people in the waiting room that he's awake."

Victor glared one last time at Adam before nodding and heading out. Milah sighed and looked at her best friend, "Adam…"

"I need to get to the bottom of this as soon as I can, Mil," replied Adam, his words were strong but his voice didn't have the same strength.

"Yes, well, let Graham and his men take a crack at it first before diving head first," replied Milah, gently caressing his head. "Harry's here by the way."

Adam groaned, remembering the meeting he was supposed to attend. "I have no energy or willpower to deal with him right now."

"He's been pacing a hole in the floor," replied Milah with a smile as Adam looked at her in surprise. "He has grown protective of you."

"I doubt that."

"Dad!"

Baelfire ran to the room and immediately swallowed his father in a hug. "Don't you ever scare us like that!"

They broke apart and Bae placed his hands on his father's shoulders, reassuring himself that his father was alright.

"Wouldn't dream of it, Bae," replied Adam and his eyes flickered towards the door to see Belle leaning on the frame, a small relieved smile on her face. "Us?"

"Mom, the entire Times, Belle," replied Bae as he sat on his father's bed. "You had us worried."

"So much that Baelfire didn't even eat any dinner yet and it's closing to morning," said Milah. "Why don't we go grab something to eat Bae, I'm starving."

Baelfire turned to his mother then gave his dad a grin before replying, "Sure thing. Make out session is bound to happen."

"Baelfire," hissed Adam as Milah pushed her teenage son out the door, passed a already blushing Belle French. "That boy is going to be the death of me."

"Better him than a bullet," came the reply and Adam's eyes softened as Belle took the space Bae had vacated on his bed. "He wasn't kidding you know. Everyone was on the wits' end at the waiting room."

"They're still here?" asked Adam.

"Yup," replied Belle with a small smile as she gently caressed the arm near her. "But they'll probably be heading home once Milah updates them." She smiled and turned to him. "You never told me about Harry Donn before."

Adam groaned and covered his eyes with his unoccupied hand. "He sure does know a lot about us."

"Yes well it's 'business' apparently to know everything," replied Adam.

Belle laughed, prompting Adam to look at her. "He acts like one of those fans who loves seeing their favorite characters hook up or something."

"If that equates to a big child then yes," replied Adam. "He most certainly is."

The settled into silence, Belle's hand still on his arm. It was more of her reassuring herself that he was alright, he was awake and most importantly he was alive. Adam must have sensed that because she motioned for Belle to lean in closer and she happily obliged as they met halfway, worry and love defining their kiss.

Belle's hands immediately went to his face as Adam buried one hand in her hair. They broke apart, leaning on each other's forehead, breathing each other's air...that was their reassurance that everything was going to be ok...for now.

* * *

Victor wasn't in a good mood as he reached the nurse station. His shift was just about to end and of course he just had to have the patient with no concern for his well-being at all.

He hurriedly signed off on the charts he had in frustration, his thoughts going back to the trauma room where he couldn't focus on his job...but focus on the bleeding form of his friend having been shot at.

A soft hand covered his own and he stopped and turned to see his girlfriend standing right next to him.

"I'd say your patient is well on his way to recovery," said Blue as Victor sighed and wrapped his arms around her.

"He won't be if he doesn't take it easy," replied Victor. "Damn man just wants to get back to work as soon as possible."

"He wants to get to the bottom of this," corrected Blue. "And he's not the only one. People's lives got put into danger and he won't rest until that danger is dealt with. You know Adam, Victor. He'll willingly risk his own life to protect the people he cares about."

"I know…" drifted Victor as he hugged Blue tighter. "I just...I hate seeing my own friends being brought here...hell, seeing his head injured like that...I had to calm myself down just to do my damn job."

"Hey," assured Blue, placing her hands on his shoulder. "You did do your job. He's fine. He's his usual stubborn, jerk of Adam Rumford Gold." Victor's face did not lighten up and Blue pushed on. "He's alright, Victor. You did great."

Victor finally sighed and nodded, giving her a small smile. He leaned forward and was just about to-

"I'm sorry but can we-oh I didn't mean to intrude."

Victor groaned and released his hold on Blue just as Peter Malcolm turned his back to them.

"No worries, minister," said Victor clearing his throat and giving Blue an apologetic look. "I'll just get Felix's discharge papers ready and you can leave." He gave Blue one last smile before darting away towards another office, leaving Blue and Malcolm alone.

Malcolm was too engrossed with the floor but he could see the piercing glare that Blue was aiming at him. But she eventually sighed, "Is Felix alright?"

"Just a bad case of the flu," replied Malcolm, still not meeting her gaze. "Dr. Whale has agreed that he doesn't need to be admitted."

"Well that's good to hear," replied Blue, softly, also avoiding his gaze.

"So...what brings you here, Rhea?"asked Malcolm hesitantly. Felix wanted him to fix things between the two of them, seeing as they were friends once upon a time. Malcolm would have just buried it but Felix insisted and well when Felix said it, Malcolm was pretty much screwed. "I think I saw a lot of people from the Times in the waiting area as well."

She didn't know why but something inside Blue told her that she should tell Malcolm the entire thing. It wasn't like this was going to be in the news or anything. They would probably write an article about it but not as a headline.

"Some people broke into the Times' archive and in their escape managed to shoot at Adam," explained Blue. "He's alright. The bullet just grazed his temple." She immediately added as Malcolm's eyes widened with her news. He immediately sighed in relief with the added information.

"That's good to hear," replied Malcolm, his voice calm but Blue noted something different in his tone. "He's awake then.'

"Just about," replied Blue, watching the man closely. "Wanting to get back to work from what Victor tells me."

"Yes well some men just won't take thing laying down," replied Malcolm. "I can tell Mr. Gold is a fighter. No matter what, he will push through."

"Yes well that's Adam for you," replied Blue, she eyed Malcolm and sighed. "Sort of reminds me of you...after the whole-" She swallowed and turned to leave. She couldn't bring herself to say her name. "I'm glad Felix is alright. Good night Mr. Malcolm."

Malcolm watched her go and turned to the hall where felix was waiting. He was worried of course. He wouldn't be able to push it at the back of his head. He needed his own reassurance that he was ok.

Mind made up, he turned to the nearest nurse and asked, "Do you know where I can find the room of Mr. Adam Gold?"


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Zozo didn't know what he wanted to do. He could either bash the stupid imbecile's head in with a candlestick and have his other men clean-up the mess or fire him and turn him into a fall guy. Either way Hodor better find another person to fill his ranks because this screw-up wasn't going to go unnoticed.

"Get him out of my sight," growled Zozo and Hodor motioned for his other man to grab the kid who had shot Gold and throw the kid out.

"You have to clean this up Hodor," said Zozo. "I don't care how, just clean it up. That imbecile is to be taken care of before sunrise, am I clear?"

"Yes, Mr. Greene," replied Hodor and to his last man, he nodded and the two were left alone.

"You should have gone with them in the first place!" hissed Zozo. "I've told you before Hodor! If we want to make sure our plans work perfectly, we have to be part of it altogether. Look how Ethan Dove played out? Now, we have a problem on our sides."

"I'm sure young Mr. Oz can deal with our little mishap," replied Hodor.

"Little mishap?" challenged Zozo. "This isn't just about the Times, Hodor. Think! Peter Malcolm might just withdraw his support because of this!"

"Or be afraid that you will push through with your threat," countered Hodor. "Mr. Greene with all due respect-"

"It's my name on the line here, Hodor, not yours," came the reply and Hodor had to bow down his head at the tone. No one messed with Greene when he was in this mood...well no one who lived to tell the tale about it. "I will do the thinking thank you very much."

Hodor swallowed and prepared for the worst. But Zozo sighed and sank down on his desk chair. "I trust that even with this turn of events, your men still did as they were tasked."

"Yes," came the quick reply. "Mr. Oz has confirmed it as well. The package was delivered."

"Good," replied Zozo, rubbing a tired hand over his face. "At least they did their job."

He looked at Hodor straight in the eye. "Make sure this doesn't link back to us, Hodor." He stared down his man. "Or else."

"Yes, Mr. Greene," managed Hodor, knowing fully well that was a dismissal. He gently bowed his head and left the study, already having a plan in motion.

Zozo on the other hand was still too stressed with recent events. He sat on his desk chair for quite sometime, not even noticing his wife enter his study until she all but pushed his chair.

"You won't be able to do anything if you just stare blankly into space, Zozo," said Mrs. Greene as she took her husband's hand and dragged him out of his chair.

"You can say it if you want," replied Zozo as he stood. "You were right, again."

"I'm not in the habit of saying 'I told you so' my dear," replied Mrs. Greene but after a beat she added, "But I did warn you about things not going according to plan."

Zozo groaned as his wife led him to the tray of drinks and poured him one. "As long as Hodor cleans this up, everyone can they think whatever they want to think. They won't be able to pin anything on me."

"I hope for your sake, that will come true."

* * *

Even with a splitting headache, Adam couldn't bring himself to sleep, or even rest for that matter. His mind was throwing ideas one over the other and it was hard to keep up. Luckily his phone still had some battery and there he was typing furiously some notes he could manage.

Why would someone attempt breaking into the archives of the Times? It's not like there's anything valuable stored there or any information that could be worth millions to anyone. Were these people targeting the Times itself? Who would do such a thing? The interview with Greene ended alright and Adam didn't give the man any excuse to attack them.

Then why?

Gold stopped typing and his gaze was far away. None of it made sense...yet. But it will eventually once he could think straight and not have the nagging pain in the side of his skull to occupy his thoughts.

He was missing a very important piece of the puzzle. This could be connected to Greene or it could be a bigger conspiracy that he has yet to uncover...either way this wasn't going to be shelved.

"Is this a bad time?" came the voice from the door and Gold finally looked up to see Peter Malcolm hovering by the door to his hospital room. It looked like he had knocked but Gold was too engrossed in his thoughts to have heard the gesture.

"No...not at all," Adam managed, after getting over his surprise. "Why can I do for you minister?"

"Nothing, actually," came the reply as Malcolm slowly entered the room. "Felix had a bad case of the flu and I brought him over just to be on the safe side and I happen to notice a lot of people from the Times in the waiting area." He stopped and studied the man on the bed, noticing the bandage wrapped around his head. "I thought they were just covering some story but I met Blue in the lobby and she informed me of what had happened." He paused and Adam waited to see if the man was going to say anything more.

"Are you alright?" Was the last thing Adam had expected the minister would say next.

"Um," began Adam, surprise evident in his face. "Yes, fine as I can be given the circumstances." He was at a loss on what to say next. There were only a select few who really did care about Adam's wellbeing and it was a surprise to have a complete stranger show any concern for him. Especially one he has had the unfortunate incident of facing in a heated argument due to an article.

The silence stretched and Adam swallowed before finally thinking of something say, "I hope Felix is alright."

"Yes, just precaution," replied Malcolm, standing awkwardly a good distance from Gold's bed. "Better to be safe than sorry, I believe."

Gold was again at a loss for words. He never interacted with Malcolm outside a professional capacity so he had no experience on what the man was truly like...only Blue's stories of the man.

"I never got to thank you for that piece you're doing of me," began Malcolm anew. "I never would have expected you would feature the likes of me actually."

"Well I've told you before how I admire your program for out of school youth, minister," began Adam, finally landing on some familiar grounds with the minister. "Those boys didn't have anyone looking out for them, more so for their education but you fought for them to have that right."

"Someone needed to look out for those youth that are lost," replied Malcolm, offering Gold a small smile. "I am thankful that you are alright Mr. Gold." Another silence settled between them, not as awkward as the one before but still not bearable. "I should leave you to rest."

Before Adam could say anything else, the man left the room, Adam's gaze following him until he was only staring at the empty doorway. He shifted his gaze, as more questions bombarded his mind. Of course the person with all the answers was standing outside his room.

"How much did you hear?" called Gold and he waited a few seconds before Harry Doon entered his room, hands inside his coat pockets, a satisfied smirk on his face. "Glad, Malcolm didn't see you lurking about. You could have been more subtle."

"I'll consider that the concussion talking and not hold it against you," replied Harry as he took the only chair in the room and placed it right next to Adam's bed. "He was too much inside his head to have noticed me standing right outside. Sure looked like he was distracted with something."

"Maybe what's eating him is what Greene has on him," replied Adam, studying the other man. "Which I am also guessing was the topic of our failed meeting tonight."

"Last night," corrected Harry as he leaned back on the chair. "Aren't you a tiny bit curious why he looked in on you?"

Adam remained silent and Harry took that as a yes. "I'm positive almost everyone knows you're little war with Greene and even the politicians are trying to stay out of it. Peter Malcolm may suspect that it was Greene who is responsible for what happened to you and he's looking at how much damage can the man create."

Adam remained silent as he digested the information Harry was giving him. "Now why would he do something like that," continued Harry, hinting at something and Adam didn't have the energy to play mind games with him right now.

"I have a headache of massive proportions Harry," whined Adam. "I really have no time for your tricks.

"Come now, Adam," replied Harry. "I'm sure you're oh so curious."

"I'm more interested in what you found out, to be honest," came the reply and Harry rolled his eyes.

"Never one for patience, were you Adam," said Harry but nevertheless continued. "Malcolm had the Darling brothers do a background check on someone. No idea who yet." He quickly added as Adam opened his mouth to ask. "Working on it. But the interesting part is, they also ordered a DNA test."

"Now," continued Harry. "You're the journalist, tell me...why would someone have another person investigated and looked into, not just historically and biologically as well?"

Adam remained silent. So that was what it was. Greene didn't have something on Malcolm...he had someone.

"So what are we looking at?" asked Adam. "Long lost sibling? Someone that could ruin Malcolm's already established life?"

"I don't think so," replied Harry. "The bits of information I managed to hear, the person he's been keeping tabs on is younger than him by a long shot."

Adam's eyes widened at Harry previous words earlier. "Malcolm was checking on me because he was trying to see what Greene is capable of."

"See the bump on your head didn't knock the intelligence out of you," said Harry playfully, resulting in a glare aimed his way. "I'm not really sure yet if Greene already has Malcolm's child, if it's really a child anyway. I'm working on pure speculation as we speak given the information I have."

"Here I thought you were going to be some actual use this time around, Harry," chided Gold as he gave the man an amused smile and Harry just glared at him. "What's your next move?"

"Well," began Harry. "This little chase has peeked my interest so I'm going to keep at it. I'll focus on the child front. But I'll keep my options open." He stopped and his gaze was far away. "What was the name of Blue and Malcolm's mutual friend again?"

"Vivienne Avalon," replied Gold. "Died in a car crash about 40 years ago in the UK."

"Rules her out then," said Harry. "I doubt Malcolm would have left her if he had known."

"Maybe he did," replied Adam, some things about the minister becoming clearer to him. "Maybe his education programs are rooted in a deep sense of making things right to abandoned boys and girls because he did it himself."

"What would you have done in his place?" asked Harry, turning the tables on him.

"You know what," replied Adam sharply. "Never did it cross my mind nor Milah's to leave Bae and have someone else raise him."

"There's your answer then," replied Harry. "Look I'm not the biggest Peter Malcolm supporter, but based on what we have found out, it looks like he only did find out about this child of his recently and he tried to keep it quiet but eventually Greene found out."

"Either the Darlings couldn't keep their mouths shut or the mother spoke up," concluded Adam.

"We do crazy things for our family, Adam," replied Harry. "Looking at Malcolm, I think he's just trying to protect Felix from finding out what had happened and to protect his child from being dragged into his complicated life."

"Add dangerous to that," said Adam. "If Greene has threatened him, why not just go to the police and not tell Felix. I'm sure Graham can be trusted with discretion."

"Who knows why," replied Harry, stifling a yawn as he looked back at his watch. "And here I thought I could actually get a good night's rest." He turned to Adam. "Your best friend ruined something for me...and I was damn close to actually having a dream come true."

Adam raised a questioning eyebrow his way and Harry sighed. "Zelena Greene was at the Crossroads when you stood me up."

"Was she now?" came the smug reply and Harry had to bite back a groan. "Anything that will take her mind off her infatuation with me, I'm all for it."

"Her only flaw," said Harry. "Having a crush on someone like you."

"Is that jealousy I hear Harry?" teased Gold with a bigger smug smile. "I'm sure give her some time and push your charm level to a hundred percent and Zelena Greene will be just as madly in love with you as you are with her."

"I-"

"Don't deny it Harry," cut off Gold with a smug smile. "You've fallen, my friend. Fallen hard."

Harry glared at him but eventually sighed in resignation. "Nothing can ever get past you, does it Adam?"

Adam laughed. "Let's just say with affairs of the heart, I speak from recent experience."

* * *

"Is he alright?"

"He is." replied Malcolm as he talked to Wendy over the phone. He was right outside Felix's trauma room, speaking to Whale. "He's doing better than anyone would expect after getting a bullet graze."

"You think Greene did this?" asked Wendy, barely above a whisper.

"To be honest," began Malcolm. "I don't think it was his intention. By the looks of it, some men wanted to something from the Times' archives and from what I gather, Adam and his staff have been trying to dig up something on Greene ever since one of their own was attacked."

They remained silent for a while until Wendy broke it with another question. "What do you want to do?"

Malcolm sighed and turned to the open door and saw Felix and Whale were still talking. "I couldn't stop myself from checking if he was alright...I just had to see for myself."

"It's understandable what you did, Peter," began Wendy.

"But I may have just gotten his life in danger," hissed Malcolm, his anger towards Greene escalating. "I want you to set up a meeting with Greene this week Wendy. He thinks he has one up on me, but he should be warned that I never fail when I put my mind to it and I plan to protect my own, no matter what."

Over the phone, Wendy smiled. That was the Peter Malcolm she knew. "On it. Tell Felix to take it easy for me.'

"I will," replied Malcolm as Whale exited the room and nodded towards him. "Let's move our office hours later to around 10. But setting up that meet with Greene is a priority."

They said their goodbyes and Malcolm pocketed his phone just as he entered Felix's room. "All set?"

"Yes," replied Felix with a small smile. "I might not be able to help you the next couple of days. I'll just forward to Wendy alll your priority meetings and the other things that need to be handled this week."

"I'm sure Wendy and I will be able to take care of things," said Malcolm as he helped Felix to his feet. His partner was still feverish, and his touch was still very warm.

"Victor told me that Blue was here, with the rest of the Times," began Felix as they headed for their hospital entrance where Malcolm had already asked one of his aides to drive them back home. "Was there anyone we know that was injured?"

"Not a politician if that's what you're thinking," replied Malcolm. "Someone broke into the Times' Archive and in their haste managed to injure Adam Gold."

'Is he all right?" asked Felix, concern lining his voice. "I've met him a few times and he's a decent fellow, very passionate with his line of work...I guess you two have that in common."

"Uh-huh," swallowed Malcolm and offering Felix a small smile. "I believe he is on his way to a speedy recovery."

"Then good news all around," replied Felix. "I'm sure you'll be seeing him often enough with your last few days on the job. He wrote that wonderful piece on your program for the youth if I remember correctly."

"That he did," replied Malcolm, his thoughts far away…not just a question of where, but also when. "I'm sure I'll be seeing a lot of Adam in the near future."


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Mallory Drake was a very confident woman. She never faltered or fidgeted in anybody else's gaze or scrutiny. She never showed weakness or any sign of discomfort in any situation she has been in.

That was why Harry Donn and Regina Mills couldn't help but snicker as she looked like a very lost puppy in the benefit they were currently attending.

It was usually Adam who attended these sort of things but under strict orders from Victor, the man was currently at home, having a relaxing evening and there was Mal feeling in the second chair for the invite of one Ella De Vil for the benefit for Storybrooke's animal shelter.

"Would you relax?" managed Regina as the three sat in one of the smaller round tables that sat only five people. "You look like you're going to faint at any moment."

"You relax," snapped back Mal as she once again looked at the entire room and settled of course to one very sexy minister who just laughed at something Arthur Camarie had said. Mal's gut dropped a little as Ella De Vil smiled at Camarie and Mal had to clench her fist to stop her from making a beeline to the exit.

"I think someone is a tiny bit jealous," said Harry as Mal turned to see him studying her with a very amused grin. Mal narrowed her eyes at him and then crossed her arms in front of her.

"Look who's talking, he who almost ran over Walter Oz because he showed up with a tall red head on his arm," fired bac Mal and Harry's smile dropped.

"Stop it before you two throw a tantrum," hissed Regina. Being a prominent man in society, Harry of course was invited to the benefit as well and seeing as Zozo Greene was also in attendance, both parties agreed that it was best for everyone if they sat at the same table. They all had one man they wanted to avoid, best avoid him united. "Or before I get the urge to call your respective women so you won't say anything at all."

Regina found herself under two glares and she couldn't help but smile as she took a sip of her drink.

"I see you three haven't killed each other yet," said Dr. Archie Hopper, as he made to sit right next to Regina. "Mind if I join you? I don't particularly wish to sit at the same table with Minister Malcolm and Mr. Greene."

"They're at the same table?" asked Regina, an eyebrow raised. Archie shared the Health and Wellness page with Victor and reported under Mal's section.

"Yes," began Archive as he settled himself. "And by the looks of it, I think this night has the chance of turning very eventful."

"Either Adam or Victor are becoming a bad influence on you, Dr. Hopper," said Mal as she drained her wine glass.

"You can't really blame me with recent events," replied Archie as she looked past Mal and smiled. "I see this night is already starting to become interesting."

Before Mal could even ask him what he was talking about, she heard the chair right beside her being moved. "Is this seat taken darling?"

Mal felt her entire face turn bright red. There was only one person in the entire world who would still use the word 'darling' in any sentence.

"Ummm," began Mal as she slowly turned to address Ella De Vil, who had a very big smile on her face and was holding a full bottle of wine. "Ummmm…"

"It's free, Ella," said Harry. "Please join us."

Regina and Archie had to swallow their own laughter as Ella sat down and placed the bottle of wine on the table.

"Looks like you could use a refill Mallory," said Ella as she filled up her glass. "My staff has informed me that you're the lucky one to interview me for the usual election series that Times has."

"I...ummm," began Mallory and the others stifled their laughter as to not make things worse. Good thing Regina covered for her.

"That's about right, Ella," replied Regina, much to the relief of Mallory. "The Times will pay of course. Just tell Mal when you're free."

"That would mean getting your number," began Ella with a very cunning smile. "You don't know how long I've wanted to get my hands on that bit of information, darling."

Mal could only stare at her as she froze in place. It took about five seconds for her to move, because of Regina elbowing her on the stomach, and handed Ella her calling card.

"Oh come now darling," said Ella, giving it back and handing her a pen as well. "I'd much prefer to have your cell than your office. Seeing as you're going to go down and look into my deep and dark soul for this interview, might as well talk to you personally and not through a secretary." She turned towards the stage and groaned. "I'll be back. Looks like the party is just about to turn dull."

Ella stood and made her way to the stage as the host introduced her for her opening remarks. When she was out of earshot, all other occupants of the table bursted out laughing much to Mal's glare.

"I don't know whose worse," began Regina. "Kilian, Adam or Mal. Honestly, you all look like dumb school kids with a crush."

"Honestly, Mal," began Archie. "There's nothing to be worried about. Especially since the feelings are mutual."

"What?!" whispered Mal as she resisted the urge to turn to towards the stage where the interest of her heart and mind was currently speaking about animal rights.

"It's very obvious from a psychologist's perspective," replied Archie, his attention on the stage in fornt. "She's addressing the entire room but her gaze keeps coming back to our table. She's a little disappointed that you still haven't looked her way. I'm guessing she's thinking that you're still busy writing your phone number on the card."

Mal turned just in time to see Ella De Vil turn to their table and their eyes met. Ella gave a small smile and Mal couldn't help smiling in return.

"Told you," whispered Archie and Regina elbowed him to shut up.

"They're having a moment, Hopper," reprimanded Regina albeit a smile on her face. "Don't ruin what you've just united."

Harry laughed but something caught his eye up front as well. The table reserved for VIPs had two occupants missing. He caught site of the two just as they exited the function room. He immediately turned to Regina.

"This night is moving along," began Harry as he stood discreetly much to the confusion of Regina and Archie. "Greene and Malcolm just stepped out."

"Oh you're not going alone," replied Regina as she motioned with her hand for Mal to remain seated. "You stay put. I don't need another editor of mine to wind up on sick leave."

Harry and Regina quickly left the room, both turning their heads as to where the other two might have gone. Harry turned. The function room was surrounded by a vast garden. They could have gone anywhere to make sure they're conversation would not be heard.

"If you were a villainous snake with a big secret to hide...oh wait you are," began Regina as Harry rolled his eyes at her. "Where would you go?"

"Somewhere no one will know this conversation will be taking place," replied Harry, scanning the ground. There were cameras still even in the gardens but Zozo knew the place and if there was a blind spot, Zozo would be the one to know.

And then Harry detected a certain scent in the air. If there was one thing he knew, it was the smell of something burning. He turned to Regina with a small smile. "When do powerful people talk?" Regina eyed him curiously. "Over a smoke. Follow me."

The benefit's venue was a strict no smoking function room but that didn't mean the entire grounds was off limits, especially given that the minister who orchestrated the benefit was a chain smoker. Ella would have booked a place where she could smoke no matter what.

Harry and Regina quietly made their way to the smoking area and true enough there was Zozo smoking and Malcolm looking very pissed off.

"That is a very grave and serious accusation Minister," began Zozo, clearly amused with the situation. "I, for one, am concerned over what had happened."

"I've already told you I'd be backing you, Greene," replied Malcolm, a certain venom in his voice that neither Harry nor Regina have heard before. "I can easily retract it if something else happens to him."

"I assure you, Minister," began Zozo, pausing to smoke and releasing a breath before turning back to Malcolm. "Your little secret is safe from me as long as you do your part."

"I am doing my part and you're the one going back on our deal," hissed Malcolm.

"I don't break deals, Minister," replied Zozo, his voice dark and threatening as he slowly walked over to Malcolm. "And I don't plan on breaking ours. I assure you, he will be unharmed...as long as you honor what we've talked about."

"I'll honor what we've talked about as long as you stay away from my family Greene," shot back Malcolm. "You're not the only one who has the cards here. I can withdraw my support as soon as I learn you've done something against him."

"And how will you learn that Peter?" asked Zozo with a wicked smile. "Keeping tabs on him are we now? Why didn't you as soon as you learned of his existence?"

Malcolm was silent and he narrowed his eyes much to the amusement of Greene. "Still haven't figured out how I've learned your little secret, haven't you Malcolm?"

Zozo finished his cigarette and threw it across the garden. "Maybe I'll tell you someday...for now don't act so tough."

"One word from me and you'll be finished, Greene," began Malcolm, his eyes ablaze with hatred. "For now, we need each other. Don't cross me."

"I wasn't planning to," replied Greene as he turned and headed back to the benefit, Malcolm's eyes glaring at him until he was out of sight. The minister sighed and was too heading back to the benefit as Regina and Harry turned to each other and straightened up from their little hiding place.

"I'm drawing a conclusion," said Harry. "What do you think?"

Regina thought about it for a few moments before eyeing Harry. "There was one word of confirmation from that. Malcolm said 'family'. But that could mean Felix for all we know."

"Especially since Felix was also admitted to the hospital recently," answered Harry.

"That was for the flu wasn't it?" asked Regina, trying to decipher the facts that they have.

"For all we know that was just a cover up," replied Harry. "Felix could have been poisoned or something and Malcolm saw it."

"Run the facts by me again," began Regina. "You found out that Malcolm had the Darling brothers do a background check on someone, including a DNA test."

"Not just a DNA test, a DNA paternity test to be exact," corrected Harry.

"Which brings us to the conversation David and Killian overheard between the three," continued Regina. "They heard the words, 'He's your -' before being cut off by Malcolm."

"Again that could mean anything though." replied Harry. "The paternity test leads us to a child but we don't know for sure."

"He mentioned family, Harry," countered Regina. She paused. "Greene mentioned being concerned over what had happened. I think the person Malcolm did a background check on was suddenly hurt and Malcolm thinks it's because of Greene."

"Greene showcasing his hand you mean," said Harry, as he ran a tired hand over his face. "Could be. There's someone out there who let's say got into an accident, was hurt but not fatally, and this is Greene's message to Malcolm that I can hurt this person."

"That I can kill this person if you don't do as I say," corrected Regina and snickered. "And Malcolm is retaliating that if Greene does harm this person, he'll withdraw his support."

"The one thing that we can really say is," began Harry. "This is family. Whatever Greene has on Malcolm has something to do with his family." He eyed Regina. "You need to ask Blue. Besides Felix, she's your only other lead."

"This could be after Blue knew him," argued Regina.

"But we still need to dig deeper into the man's past, Regina," countered Harry. "I'm no fan of Greene and I hate to see people who actually do their jobs get caught in his net, the Times most of all." He turned towards the benefit. "Greene has been a thorn for everyone. We can actually stop him from meddling with things, stop his influence once and for all."

"Harry this isn't about revenge," warned Regina.

"I know that," spat Harry. "It's about that man getting what he deserves. He has weaseled himself out of a lot of things, Regina. It's not just all those illegal things he's done but with other deals that he screwed people over." He paused and gathered his thoughts. "I am a businessman, and I may work underground but I know I owe people and what people owe me. Greene doesn't play fair. He never has. He's the coward who takes the easy way out and slithers his way out of situations when he has it coming."

"Ok I get it," began Regina, stopping the man from continuing his rant. "So what do we do?"

"We bring him down," replied Harry without missing a beat. "We bring him down once and for all."

* * *

Belle was glad to see Adam feeling better. She wasn't too keen on the dinner they had planned but things turned out better than she could have ever expected.

Given Whale's strict orders that Adam be under house arrest for a week or so, their dinner dates were Gold's house for the time being.

Tonight wasn't an exception. Adam was suppose to attend Ella De Vil's benefit with Regina and Gold had already asked Belle to come with him as his date. But given current doctor's orders, Regina had to take Mal, which the Features editor didn't take lightly...especially given who had had organized the benefit in the first place. With their night suddenly free, Gold had asked Belle to come to his house for dinner.

Given the day, the dinner turned into quote unquote Bae's usual family dinner with his parents and now parents and their respective significant other.

That was how Belle had spent her evening. Listening to Milah and Adam constantly tease each other as Killian complained every 3 minutes or so on what he was forced to be a middle off while Baelfire just quietly chuckled on one side, occasionally meeting her gaze.

Dinner was delicious as always. Even though Whale had ordered him to stay at home, didn't mean Gold couldn't still cook and he was the only one who did know how among all of the adults.

As Adam began clearing up the plates, Milah snatched them from his hand and motioned for the two of them to get to the living room and three of them (her, Kilian and Bae) could handle things.

"But-," began Adam but Belle had taken his arm and all but dragged her to the couch.

"I'm sure they can handle it," said Belle as she all but pushed him down on the couch. "And no you're not being useless in your own. Sometimes, you have to let other people do the work and relax for a bit."

Adam made to retort but he only sighed as Belle cuddled closer to him. "You know me too well, Belle."

Belle smiled as she wrapped her arms around him. "How are you feeling, truly?"

"Honestly," began Gold. "I'm doing fine. The headaches have gone and I'm pretty sure I'm coming down with a case of cabin fever."

"Adam," began Belle as she lifted her head from his chest to meet his eyes. "It's only been what… 4 days?"

"Trust me," said Adam. "You try being cooped up for 4 days without doing anything for all the leads you want to follow up on."

Belle sighed but she suddenly found herself giggling much to the surprise of her boyfriend. "Care to share with the entire class what is so funny sweetheart?"

"You just suddenly remind me of a character I love," began Belle, shifting her arms from around his wait to around his neck and leaning closer so her forehead was leaned on his.

"And who might that be?" asked Adam, a small smile on his face.

"'My mind rebels at stagnation.'" began Belle as she recited from memory and Adam found himself chuckling a little. "'Give me problems, give me work, give me the most abstruse cryptogram, or the most intricate analysis, and I am in my own proper atmosphere.'"

"'But I abhor the dull routine of existence. I crave for mental exaltation.'" finished Adam and he was rewarded with Belle kissing him on the lips.

"Knew you'd also memorize the quote," said Belle as she finally released his lips.

"Really guys," came the voice of Milah as the trio entered the living room all bearing mugs of hot chocolate. "Can't stay off each other for five minutes?"

"Hard since Whale had ordered no strenuous activities," remarked Gold and Milah glared at him.

"May I remind you that you have your son in the other room," said Milah but Bae had a counter to that.

"Like you remembered mom when I was staying at your flat?" came the innocent question and Killian couldn't help but laugh until Milah smacked the back of his head.

"What?" asked Killian, a smile still on his face. "Lad's got great memory."

"Speaking of memory," began Bae as he turned to his father. "Aren't grams, grams and grams suppose to be heading our way soon?"

"Judging by your father's face, I guess he completely forgot." said Milah as Gold's eyes widened in sudden realization. "Where were they last you spoke to them?"

"Asia?" offered Gold much to the glare of his best friend. "What? They never really talk about their trip when they call. It's always about me and-" He immediately stopped and went a slight shade of red as Belle realized his aunts must have been inquiring about her.

"I'd bet that we're just going to get a call one of these days and they'll be asking you to pick them up from the airport," said Bae as he drained his mug. "Wish school would finish up soon." He turned to his father. "You promised me a trip to Scotland and the Glastonbury Festival."

"As long as you keep your grades up, we have a deal," said Adam as he too drank from his steaming mug.

They soon said their good nights, Milah and Killian heading back to their her flat and Bae heading up to his room. Belle and Adam went back to the living room and settled into each other's arms in the couch once again.

"You know that trip to Scotland is open for another passenger," began Adam as he caressed her arms. "If you're open to the idea of course."

Belle chuckled and lifted her head to meet his gaze. "If you're offering, of course I'm open to the idea."

"Yes, I'm offering," replied Adam with a smile. "It'd be nice to show you and Bae the place where I grew up in."

"And meet your aunts," added Belle.

"That'll probably happen sooner than you think," said Adam as Belle's face fell a little. "Though you have nothing to worry about, I'm pretty sure they already love you."

Belle chuckled as she understood his sudden change in tone. "Adam, I'm pretty sure my father also likes you too."

"As much as I would love to meet the parents as this point of our relationship," began Adam. "I'd be more comfortable if my turn isn't in the near future."

"Oh and I'm supposed to be ok with the possibility of meeting your aunts in the near future?" asked Belle, an eyebrow raised.

"I swear they'll love you," said Adam. "You can ask Milah yourself if you don't believe me."

"You know I have a lot of people to impress in dating you," began Belle. "Three aunts, mother of your child and child itself. You on the other hand just have my father."

"And the rest of the Times," added Adam. "Do you know how many 'hurt her and I'll make you pay' talk I received when we started dating?" Belle laughed but she knew that would have been true. Sure Adam was the Associate Editor but the Features Section were very protective. "I was about a hair away from being scared off ."

"Well then," began Belle shifting to sit on his lap and wrapping her arms around his neck once again. "I'd just have to reinforce our relationship's staying power shall I?"

* * *

Malcolm couldn't stomach being on the same table as Greene throughout the entire benefit and had excused himself after dinner. He found himself back in the gardens, where his initial talk with Greene had taken place.

The benefit had proven to be uneventful, except for that little chat. Greene acted as though he wasn't worried about Malcolm's threats but Malcolm knew he struck a chord. Greene wasn't an award winning actor and Malcolm could read him quite well. He was cautious. Trying to put up a tough front when one word from Malcolm, Greene knew everything he had worked for will all come tumbling down and he would lose.

Malcolm sighed and debated whether to leave already. Ella De Vil would understand seeing as Felix was still out of commision and was at home. He turned to do just that when a voice floated from behind him.

"My husband informed me that you had talked earlier."

That voice had Malcolm frozen in place. He thought he would never hear those words ever again in his life, especially since the last time he did hear it was in a screaming manner. Screaming that it was Malcolm's fault that her daughter was dead.

Malcolm masked his surprise and slowly turned to face Vivienne's mother. She was slightly older than he remembered, well so was he in a sense. But her face was still gentle and yet her fierce eyes told you that this was not a woman you should mess with.

"I didn't speak nor did I even know that Merlin was here," replied Malcolm, in his most passive voice he could muster at the moment.

"I wasn't talking about my ex-husband, minister," replied Vivienne's mother as she walked closer to him, stopping a few centimeters in front of Malcolm. "I was talking about my current husband."

"I-," began Malcolm but realization crashed down on him like rocks of an avalanche. That was how Zozo Greene knew about his past, knew about everything. She had told him. "Mrs. Greene, we haven't been properly introduced."

"Oh you know me," replied Mrs. Greene with a very smug smile on her face. "I do my best work in the background."

"Or when no one can pin point you in a line-up," finished Malcolm. "How can you get the blame when no one knows you're the mastermind of it all?"

Mrs. Greene opened her mouth in a showcase of being hurt by his words but Malcolm knew she was mocking him. "Is that what you think of me, Peter? And here I thought we got along back then-"

"Back when you suddenly swooped in and abandoned your own grandchild in a market?" hissed Malcolm much to the gaze of Mrs. Greene.

"Swooped in?" raised Mrs. Greene. "Remind me where you were during those times, Peter. Where my daughter was in your priorities? Oh wait, you didn't care because you had already left."

"I loved your daughter," fired back Malcolm. "Didn't you slightly even contemplate that things might be different if you had told me? Vivienne could still be alive and we could actually be a family."

"Vivienne would still be dead had you known," whispered Mrs. Greene.

"You don't know that," fired back Malcolm. "You don't know how things would have turned out. You might actually have gotten along with h-"

"I will never get along with that monster," began Mrs. Greene her tone and demeanor changing completely as she advanced on Malcolm.

Malcolm was confused at the sudden hostility as he took a step back. "That monster killed my daughter."

Malcolm's eyes widened at the piece of information. How on earth? But he was able to answer his own question. "You told me she died in a car crash." His confusion turning into anger. "You lied to me!"

"As far as I am concerned, you and that child are the reason why my daughter is dead," snapped back Mrs. Greene. "And Merlin had the audacity to actually care for the child as though our daughter meant nothing."

"What changed his mind?" asked Malcolm, knowing full well Merlin would have done so because unlike his ex-wife, Merlin did have a kind heart.

"I managed to talk to him," replied Mrs. Greene and Malcolm did not believe a word of that.

"Like you and Merlin had any healthy relationship at all," said Malcolm as he didn't back down. "You had no right in lying to me! You had no right in keeping my son's existence from me."

"I had no right?" asked Mrs. Greene as she laughed at Malcolm's words. "You had no right in courting my daughter! You and that child of yours have no right in having a good life, especially since you robbed my daughter of her own!"

Malcolm fell silent as Mrs. Greene continued to glare at him. "But I guess certain compromises can be made."

Malcolm raised his eyebrows in confusion as Mrs. Greene walked past him. "I am a fair woman and I offer you the same thing I offered Merlin." She paused, letting her words sink in. "You can either spend your remaining existence having that happy life you've always envisioned with Felix while your child..." She turned and faced him. "Loses everything. Or vice versa."

"That wasn't what Greene and I talked about," began Malcolm but Mrs. Greene silenced him when she raised her hand.

"This isn't about you and my husband," she replied. "This is between you and me." She turned and headed back to the benefit. "Only one of you can come out of this unscathed Peter. I'd choose wisely who I would prioritize." She paused. "I'd learn from Merlin's mistake, Peter. Choosing that child is not in your best interest."

It was then that Malcolm realized what he was really in the middle off. Once he had agreed with Greene's deal...there was no hope of things going back to the way there were...no hanging threat that Felix would find out about his past or his own child finding out about his own.

He could beat Zozo yes...but no one could ever beat her. When she put her mind to it, she succeeded and if there was one thing that Peter Malcolm feared….it was Nimue.


	11. Chapter 11

_In this chapter, we meet the extended family of our key characters._

 _Note: So my monthly fic update was cut in between due to monsoon rains wreaking havoc on our power and communication lines._ _But anyway, I am back and here is the update!_

Chapter 11 **  
**

His aunts always had impeccable timing. Not this time though as they would arrive when Gold still had three more days of leave as ordered by both Regina and Whale.

That didn't get him out of picking them up at the airport though.

So that was where he stood. At the waiting area of the airport, Bae playing something on his phone while he and Milah looked over to the entrance waiting for his three aunts to arrive.

Gold's cadillac wouldn't be able to fit everyone and they needed Bae to help with the luggages. So Milah had offered her van, which wasn't the car she usually used but Gold was able to drive it.

"I still can't believe you haven't sold this," said Gold as they waited. "I mean it's probably as old as Bae already."

"Says the man who keeps practically everything he has owned from the day he was born," replied Milah, playfully slapping his arm. "You know you should probably declutter your home before your aunts decide to do it themselves."

"Yeah how do you expect to ask Belle to move in if we don't have space," came the voice of Bae from inside the car and Gold resisted the urge to whack him at the back of the head as Milah laughed.

"No comments from back there," replied Gold as Milah continued to laugh harder.

"What? Papa our house is like an pawnshop with all the things inside," replied Bae, not looking up from his phone. "You even have that teacup that Belle chipped a few days ago."

"And the scarf I had that got a tear," said Milah but her eyes held no reproach in them. She smiled and gave Gold a sideways hug. "You know for a very intimidating journalist, you're a very big softy at heart."

"I am not," replied Gold.

"He's actually a big huggable teddy bear," came Bae's input and Gold really wished he had something to throw at his son.

"ADAM!"

Impeccable timing as always, Gold thought as he turned back to the airport and sure enough his three aunts were all heading towards them. Aunts Flo and Mary waving while Aunt Ana with another older gentleman pushed carts with their luggage on.

Aunt Flo was the first one to reach him and hugged him tight, Aunt Mary doing the same to Milah and Bae who had gotten out of the car as soon as he had heard his grand-aunts.

"Oh Adam we've missed you," said Aunt Flo upon letting him go, giving Aunt Mary the chance to squeeze the daylights out of him. "All of you. Milah, lovely as always and my dear, Baelfire you have grown so much."

"Aunt Mary I need to breathe," said Gold playfully as Mary Gold finally let her adopted son go.

"I hope you're still open for hugs then," said Aunt Ana as she arrived with the elderly man.

"For you, Aunt Ana, always," replied Gold as he walked over to her and swallowed her in a hug.

"Oh Adam, this fine gentleman is Maurice," introduced Aunt Flo. "We had met at the airport in Australia and by chance he was always on the same route as we were."

"These are Milah and their son Baelfire," finished Aunt Mary.

"I thought the ladies needed some help with their luggage and gave a hand," replied Maurice as he shook hands with Milah. "You can just call me, Moe."

"Well Moe is here visiting his family as well," added Aunt Mary.

"The least we could do is give him a lift for all the trouble he went through for us," finished Aunt Flo and Gold resisted the urge to roll his eyes. His aunts were always in sync with one another and it was mind boggling at times and annoying most of the time, especially when they wanted something.

But it was the least they could do, a man who went through a flight with his aunts was a hero in his book.

"Of course Moe," replied Gold as he shook the man's hand. "Where're you headed?"

"A good restaurant," declared Aunt Flo as Gold turned to her with an eyebrow raised. "Come now, nephew. We're all famished and Moe has been such a gentleman."

"I wouldn't want to impose," began the older man but Aunt Flo and Aunt Mary had already taken an arm and led him to the car.

"Our nephew has always been a generous lad, he won't mind," came their declaration and Milah and Bae laughed as they all headed to the car. Gold sighed when a hand landed on his shoulder.

"Do be patient with those two Adam," said Aunt Ana with a smile. "They've just missed you."

"This is how they show it?" asked Gold but his aunt knew that he was only teasing. They all boarded Milah's van and with Gold as their driver, Moe at the front seat, his aunts and finally Milah and Bae at the back row.

"So what do we want to eat?" asked Gold as he started the van and headed out of the airport.

"Oh Moe maybe you could invite your daughter to come join us," remarked Aunt Flo. She turned to her nephew and added. "Moe has come all the way to surprise his daughter."

"She's been living by herself since she moved," added Aunt Mary.

"I'm really sorry about them," whispered Gold as his aunts continued to talk to Milah and Bae about Moe, about their trip and a whole lot of other things.

"Ah it's no matter," replied Moe with a smile. "Your aunts are an enthusiastic bunch. I usually bore people when I talk, especially about my inventions, but not them. They were all ears."

"Oh they're all ears about everything," replied Gold. "Including my private life." He mumbled to himself.

"Say do you happen to know any good places to eat near this place," said Moe as Gold stopped at a redlight and Moe offered him the piece of paper, which surprisingly had the address of the Times.

"Actually I was thinking of a cafe near there," replied Gold. "Is that near where your daughter is?"

"Yes," replied Moe with a smile. "Can't wait to see her. It's been such a long time now. Might ruin the surprise if I ask her to meet us there but at least I don't have to wait."

"I understand the feeling," replied Gold as he thought about the woman he's been dying to see all week.

* * *

Regina Mills was a patient women when she wanted to be. She could act very interested in whatever it is you were saying and pretend to be a person who actually gave a damn about your political promises when it suited her.

She was however a woman who was completely and utterly bored.

It had been a good 15 minutes since she had asked Arthur Camarie what he would do if he were to be elected again. And the man had not stop talking and rambling and actually repeating his promises from the last time he was interviewed by the Times.

He didn't even notice Regina firing about five texts to Robin on how bored she was, planning a dinner and maybe watching something with Robin's son Roland.

Regina smiled a little remembering how Roland had taken to her the first time Robin had introduced her to his son from a previous marriage. Robin was a widower and that was one of the reasons he had retired from being a competitive archer to just writing about sports.

Good thing too, Regina thought.

It was close to four years now that Regina had inherited the Times from her father. Board and editors included.

A year after, her father had passed and around the same time that Robin had lost his first wife. It was Neal of all people to recommend the former Olympic Archer to write for the Times since Regina was giving up the Sports Section to be the Editor-in-chief.

"I think I've rambled on, Ms. Mills, I do apologize," said Arthur and Regina put on a very realistic smile.

"No problem Minister," said Regina. "It will actually help me write the feature on you." Granted, the man always did have a tendency to ramble on and on about the same thing and the article will not have any substance whatsoever.

"Well if you say so," replied Arthur. "I think we're covered the political side, time for the family background again?" Of course Arthur knew the format already. Coming from a political family in a sense, being bred from day 1 to be a public servant, he always did his homework.

"Well," began Regina as she checked her notes. "I think you've talked a little bit about that when we did a feature on you before." She paused and looked at Gold's questionnaire. She could ask that one cliche question but at least Arthur would ramble on again and she could go back to talking to Robin. "Well what about a very personal question. What made you go into public service and leadership?"

Arthur smiled and Regina nodded that this was different. It felt like a real genuine smile. "It was actually my father's friend back overseas. They were close but my father only studied abroad and was still a resident of this country. But my godfather always went by our way once in awhile."

"A politician as well?" asked Regina, slightly intrigued with the change in Arthur's demeanor.

"No," replied Arthur. "But his main mission in life was to help people. That's what got to me. He always told me I had the guts to be a leader and follow a good cause." He paused and smiled again at the memory. "He told me to find my calling but to never forget what was the bigger picture."

"And what was that?" asked Regina.

"That no matter what you can do, or what you're good at, whatever field you chose to dedicate your life with," began Arthur. "Remember that all purposes revolve around one thing, helping others." Arthur turned away from her slightly, getting lost in his own thoughts. "That is, after all, what is most important."

"He sounds like a very good man, Minister," replied Regina sadly. The way Arthur looked away meant that this godfather was greatly missed.

"He was-is," replied Arthur, turning back to her. "Well we don't really know. Lancelot has told me that there was still no news." At Regina's confused look, he continued. "My godfather was lost at sea after a trip when he had separated from his wife after the death of their daughter. She had died in a tragic car accident and left her parents stricken with the loss of their only child."

Regina's eyes widened a bit. It couldn't be possible...but this godfather of his was overseas. No, there were a lot of parents who had lost their child in car accidents. But there was a smaller group of parents, fathers in particular, who had lost their child in a car accident and then went missing just like the story of Blue's friend.

"I've asked Lancelot to look into it since he and I are close and he's being your international correspondent," continued Arthur. "Lancelot even met him once."

That friendship always intrigued Regina, given the fact that the two men had fought over the love of one woman, who had eventually chosen Arthur. But even with that conflict in their past, the three had remained friends.

"Maybe more resources could help," offered Regina, she would of course but she needed to find out something.

"Are you sure Ms. Mills?" asked Arthur, slightly surprised with the offer. "It's not really as newsworthy as you may think."

"I'll be the judge of that Minister," answered Regina. "But as far as I'm concerned, good men deserve the headlines rather than...well other people and the horrors of this world." She dare not mention anyone but from the look on Arthur's face, he understood.

"Thank you," replied Arthur. "Lancelot, Gwen and I would love to know what has happened to him...at least even if he has died then we know." He reached into his pocket for his phone and produced a picture to show Regina. "He's name was Merlin. Merlin Avalon."

* * *

Harry hated waiting for people. If he set up a meeting, at a specific time and place, he wanted the person there and then.

What was the purpose of setting the time when the other person was late?

That was what Harry Donn was known for, punctuality, impatience and a temper you really do not want to test.

So when Isaac Heller arrived ten minutes late, his eyes already told Harry that the younger man was very very anxious of what was going to happen next.

The only thing Isaac had going for me was he was still useful. If he wasn't, Harry would have done something far harsher than glare at him.

"I'm so sorry Mr. Donn," began Isaac. "I-"

"Saved it for someone who actually cares, Mr Heller," snapped Harry. "You asked if we could meet. I gave you the details. You're tested my patience already." He paused and fixed the man with a hard stare. "Don't push yourself over the edge. What do you have?"

"Right, of course," managed Isaac as he opened his bag to offer Harry some files, with shaking hands. Harry took them rather forcefully, making the other man jump back in his chair a little. "The only evidence that Vivienne Avalon died of car accident is that piece of paper."

Harry studied the folder in his hand and sure enough, it was just a report. No pictures of the wreck, no autopsy, just that she had died on impact. No statements, no witnesses, the drunk driver also died in the hospital hours later.

That was a little intriguing. Even with all his faults, Isaac Heller was useful once in awhile. But that was not the task Harry had given him.

"That is all well and good, Mr. Heller," began Harry as he kept the file, Isaac beaming with satisfaction. "But that is not what I had asked you to do. Or am I mistaken?"

The smile was instantly wiped off and Isaac rummaged through his bag quickly, Harry sighing in annoyance. Of course the file proved to be useful, it implied that there was some sort of cover up that was going on, whether Avalon did die of a car crash or not.

"There was one instance that Vivienne Avalon was seen having a check-up with a doctor," replied Isaac, finally finding the file he had. It was a copy of what looked like a patient log. "The doctor wasn't a gynecologist, just a general practitioner. I'm not really sure-"

Harry snapped the paper away from Isaac to stop the man from rambling. That was more enough, and he could take over from there. "Anything else before I push you over the edge?"

Isaac swallowed and shook his head. "I could continue the search and try to find the identity-"

"Which is what I've asked you to do and yet," Harry paused as Isaac immediately stood up and clutched the sling of his bag.

"I'll keep you posted," he practically shouted over his shoulder as he ran out of the restaurant.

Harry sighed, true enough some of the other patrons and waiters were already looking at him funny. Trust Isaac to be subtle of all things.

"That looked like it was a painful experience," came the voice of a lovely red head Harry had been seeing quite too often but still the voice made his eyes widen just as Zelena Greene took the seat Heller had initially vacated.

"I'll live," replied Harry with a small smile. "What brings you here Zelena?"

"Just wanted to get out of the house, Harry," Zelena said with a bright smile that honestly made Harry's heart skip a little beat. "My father and step-mother are in full campaign mode and I'd rather not be there."

Harry nodded, noticing how different her voice sounded when she talked about her family. He had known Nimue Blackhall even before she had become Nimue Greene and she was a woman nobody should consider messing with.

They had of course a mutual understanding of not getting in each other's way and Harry had always kept his end of the deal. Nimue on the other hand was reaching far enough and Harry knew that one day, his old acquaintance was going to meet a very bitter end, especially when she decided to marry Zozo Greene.

"Wasn't that the famous political ghost writer?" asked Zelena all of a sudden. "Isaac Heller, I think his name was."

"Yes," replied Harry, amused that she of all people would know him. "I'm surprised you know him."

"Well father has been doing his homework with all this political business he is determined to get himself into," replied Zelena, as she reached over and took Harry's glass. "Don't tell me you're thinking of getting into politics as well? Is it to spite my father?"

Harry's smiled widened. Of course Zelena knew of his and her father's little battle of wits, especially when Zozo Greene was true to his surname of being green with envy anytime Harry Donn would show up and cask Nimue to dance.

"Sadly politics is a line I will never cross in my lifetime," replied Harry, taking the glass back, his fingers brushing hers ever so lightly. "Even if it would annoy your father to no end. I'm more of a rule breaker than ruler."

Harry drained his glass and motioned for a waiter to bring them a second round. "No, Isaac Heller being what he is, is useful when gathering information. His work does require a good head for research and the a very big and powerful circle of friends."

"Your line of work will forever puzzle me, Harry," said Zelena, leaning back on her chair. "And whatever it is that you do, it looks to be perpetually boring."

"I hope I do not offend you Zelena," began Harry, as he leaned forward. "But yours, I believe, is much more of a snooze fest than my own."

Zelena laughed and Harry smiled. That was a sound he would be fine hearing for the rest of his life. "Touche…"

She trailed off and Harry had the greatest urge to take her hand in a form of comfort. "You ok?"

Zelena's smile was forced, Harry noticed. She played with the glass as the waiter had set it down on their table. "Oh just a small case of confusion," replied Zelena standing up all of a sudden and standing by his chair. "Not really sure what I want to do with my life."

Harry met her gaze as he too stood. They just stayed there, looking at each other and was it his imagination or they leaned forward at the same time...a breathe away from-

His phone rang.

Zelena giggled as he groaned in frustration. "I guess third time really is the charm," she said as she winked at him and turned and walked away.

Harry watched her go, very very disappointed. That was the second time he was interrupted from finally kissing Zelena Greene and it looked like the feeling was mutual, and come hell or high water, he was going to get a third chance and that would be the clincher.

His phone was still buzzing and he grabbed it, wishing death to the person on the other end. "You better have a great excuse for calling at the worst possible moment."

"What has gotten you all riled up?" came the dominating tone of Regina Mills. "Arthur Camarie just told me a piece of very vital news."

"What? That he's finally decided on a concrete plan as a minister?" replied Harry in annoyance as he sat back down on the now table for one.

"That he has a godfather who is currently missing ever since his daughter died in a car accident," replied Regina, not caring for Harry's little outburst. "Sound familiar?"

Harry's eyes widened as he stood and tossed a couple of bills on the table. "Please tell me you got a name."

"I'm not an idiot," replied Regina. "David and Sidney are working on it but we could always use you."

"I'm taking that as a compliment Your Majesty," said Harry knowing full well that the nickname was earning him a glare across the line. "Name so I can get to the bottom of this."

"Merlin Avalon."

Harry stopped. That name seemed familiar to him but he couldn't place where or when he had heard it….but he was certain it was a name he had heard before.

"Harry? Hello? Am I still talking to someone?" asked Regina on the other end.

"Yes," said Harry. "I may have something. I'll call you as soon as I get my informant back. Think I scared him a while ago."

"Any news?"

"Just that the report for Vivienne Avalon's death just appeared out of nowhere," said Harry as he reached the alley near the restaurant he had just left. "And that she had visited a general practitioner."

"That doesn't prove she was pregnant," replied Regina. "But you got me at the accident. You think that wasn't what happened? Because of Malcolm did murder her, I'm putting that in the front page tomorrow."

"We both know Malcolm is not capable of such a thing," said Harry. "Besides, Blue thinks that as well."

"Regardless," began Regina. "We're surely lacking in information." After a pause, she added. "You're really losing your touch Donn. Are we distracted by a certain red head?"

Harry's face flushed and he growled at her over the phone, "Goodbye Regina." She just laughed as Harry hanged-up on her.

* * *

"Hey Papa," answered Belle as she saw who was calling her. "What's up?"

"Oh I just called to make sure you got the surprise I had sent your way," replied her father. "I'm pretty sure the service had said they would just leave it outside your door."

"That's rather stupid don't you think?" began Belle as she made her way from her bedroom to her door. "What if someone else takes interest and just steal it?"

"I doubt it given the size," replied her father.

"Now I am intrigued, what is it?" asked Belle with a small smile. Her father was of course an inventor and he would usually send her his latest invention.

"Just open your door and find out."

The words seemed louder and Belle's eyes widened at her phone then back at the door. She wrenched it open and sure enough her father was standing right outside, phone next to his ear, a bad by his feet and a very broad grin on his face.

"Surprise!"

"Papa!" shouted Belle and threw her arms around him and swallowed him in a hug. "What are you doing here? How did you even get here?"

"I wanted to surprise you," replied Moe French as he released his daughter. "And I wanted to congratulate you in person with the big promotion."

"Oh papa!" said Belle as she teared up in happiness. Her father really was a spectacular man. "I'm glad you survived the airport."

"Oh I met these ladies who were heading the same way and we sort of helped each other out," began Moe as Belle motioned him in her flat. "They've been travelling the world but were finally on their last round before heading home."

"Ladies?" asked Belle, amused. "Really? You?"

"It's not like that my bluebell," replied Moe, blushing slightly. "They've invited me for dinner tomorrow. A thanks for helping them carry their luggages. I really don't understand why women pack so much."

Belle laughed. "You seemed to have made some friends, papa. Ladies at that, I'm impressed." She paused and remembered that she was supposed to have dinner with Adam and his family tomorrow. "Would you be alright tomorrow? I do have a dinner date but I can cancel-"

"No need bluebell," replied Moe with a smile. "We promised to meet at the park near your building. We drove past it from the airport."

"If you say so," replied Belle as she hugged him again. "It's very good to see you, papa."

Moe smiled, giving his daughter a sideways hug. "This prior commitment tomorrow? Someone I'll meet any time soon?"

Belle laughed, of course that was also on her father's agenda. "Maybe. I'll just have to prepare him first."

"You should have met the man I had the privilege to meet today," began Moe. "Good head on his shoulder, though married from the looks of it."

Belle laughed. "I'm sure you're going to like him too, papa."


	12. Chapter 12

_In this chapter, we have the much awaited family dinner._

 _Note: So this chapter might be short but I just wanted to feature this particular scenario and no one else._

Chapter 12

Adam and Moe had been in deep conversation all day since he, along with his aunts, had picked up the older man from the park near his office building.

The man was a bit eccentric but his ideas were very innovative and his opinions mixed with his uncanny wit was entertaining to say the least.

"Mind you I was never a big fan of fiction," began Moe as they studied Adam's study which was filled to the brim with books. "I was more on a non-fiction time of man."

"I'd wager the DIY manuals and scientific papers," said Adam as Moe walked around the room.

"Well you're a journalist and trained to be observant," replied Moe with a smile. "I'm more of the new ideas and perspective type of man." He stopped and turned to Adam. "You've read Einstein's five papers?"

Adam laughed as Moe took the book from the shelf. "I have to admit I thought I wouldn't understand a thing but he had written it that even a man who wasn't exceptional in Physics understood every word he said."

"You are certainly a man of many talents, Adam," said Moe motioning with his hand to the guitar on the corner of the room. "Art and science, a complete balance of both."

Adam made to reply but the doorbell rang. "That must be Milah. Would you like to continue this conversation with a glass of whiskey and a comfortable couch?"

"You had me at whiskey," said Moe as they headed to the door and just as Adam had thought, it was Milah.

"Care to join us for a drink?" asked Adam as she helped her out of her coat. "The ladies are in the kitchen with strong instructions to not let us in and get a few early pickings."

"I'll just go see if there's anything I can help with," began Milah.

"We've tried and they just shooed us off," said Moe.

"Well maybe they'd rather have a woman's touch," said Milah with a wink.

"Suit yourself," said Adam as he led Moe to the living room.

Miah watched the go and turned towards the kitchen, debating whether to go through with it or not.

She sneaked a glance at the three women preparing a feast in the Gold's kitchen. She's been thinking how to broach the subject but really had no clue how to really go about it.

Also, she was being a little too hard on herself for not seeing the signs sooner. It was only when Belle mentioned that her father had surprised her the previous day when alarms went off in her head.

"Why don't you bring him along later?" offered Milah as she finished her lunch meeting with the book editor.

"He said he was going to have dinner with a couple of friends he had met during his flight over," answered Belle.

That was the kicker and now Milah stood watching the three women move in precise movements like a choreographed dance routine as they went about in the kitchen. She debated whether to ask, if her suspicion was even true, many men visited their daughters...a lot of them meet people in the airport or airplane. She was just overthinking things.

"Milah think harder and you might just explode," came the voice of Aunt Ana as Milah finally got out of her own head and looked to see all three women looking at her. "Did you want anything?"

"I was wondering if you needed any help," began Milah, already having the excuse in mind. In all honesty, she wanted to see what was going to happen, whether the three ladies did know something or not and what their plan was.

"Oh we've got everything covered," said Aunt Flo with a wink. "Just sit back and enjoy the evening my dear."

Now she was really suspicious but gave up and headed back to the living room where Moe and Adam were. Bae was upstairs finishing his homework and Killian was still in the office.

Belle had headed home to freshen up before heading their way.

If the three women did have something up their sleeve, Milah would just enjoy the show and at least she had deniability.

She turned as she heard Adam's footsteps. The man had his phone to his ear and was whispering quietly. Not wanting to eavesdrop, Milah headed to keep Moe company.

Adam caught her eyes and nodded in gratitude before turning his focus on the person on the other end of the line.

"Why don't I just pick you up?" asked Adam for maybe the tenth time and Belle had to chuckle lightly.

"Because if I do not have a car, I will be easily persuaded to stay the night," reasoned Belle as she looked at herself in the mirror of her bedroom. "And I have to go home later because like I've mentioned my father is visiting."

"You could have invited him," said Adam, leaning his back against the hallway wall. "We could do the meet the parents at the same time."

Belle laughed as she got her purse. "You'll meet him eventually, Adam. I'll see you soon."

"Drive safe," replied Adam before finally ending the call. He turned and was surprised to see his three aunts watching him closely, all with smiles on their faces.

"What?"

"Nothing," came the chorused reply. Adam's eyes narrowed but decided not to push the subject. Belle had wanted to meet his aunts, if he had to endure a few hours of embarrassment, then so be it. Belle was worth it.

He went back to the living room where both Milah and Moe were engrossed in conversation. Killian was following a lead but he promised to be there just in time for dinner.

He went and poured himself and Moe a drink which he handed the man as he sat besides him on the sofa, Milah sitting on one of the lounge chairs to Moe's right.

"So how's your daughter Moe?" asked Adam.

"She's absolutely great," replied Moe with a small smile. "Shame she had a prior engagement tonight. I would love for all of you to meet her."

"I'm sure we can arrange that," said Milah. "How long are you staying in Storybrooke?"

"Maybe a couple of weeks," answered Moe. "I could never consider leaving Australia for this place. I mean, it looks lovely enough but back there is my home."

"Can't help you there, Moe," began Adam. "Milah and I moved here permanently after graduating."

"Yes, your aunts did mention that," said Moe with a small smile and making the younger man blush slightly. "Is that why Baelfire doesn't sound like either of you?"

"Oh he can turn it on of he wanted to," said Milah. "Takes after his father."

The doorbell rang and Milah excused herself to get their guest only to be beaten by Baelfire who was already opening the door for Killian who looked to be stressed to no end.

"Hey," greeted Milah as they shared a quick kiss. "What's wrong?"

"Dead ends," whispered Killian. This was the last day of Gold's mandatory leave and if Killian brought any subject of work, those three ladies in the kitchen my just skin him alive. "I hope he doesn't blow a fuse on us tomorrow."

"Oh believe me," began Milah. "Ethan must have already briefed him on your status." She dragged him to the kitchen. "Ladies, you remember Killian?"

Killian swallowed as all three women turned to stare at him. Sure they have only had interactions via video chat whilst Adam, Milah and Bae talked to them...but being scrutinized in the flesh was very unsettling.

"Good evening madames," said Killian with a slight bow, the quiver in his voice not falling on deaf ears.

"It's nice to finally meet you in person Mr. Jones," said the woman closest to him. "I'm Ana, taller one is Flo and smallest one is Mary."

The other two gave offered him a smile but it reminded Killian of the smile his boss usually wore when he was planning something.

"Um," began Killian, swallowing the growing lump in his throat. "Is there anything I can help with?"

"Oh what a charmer, Milah," began Floe, not taking her gaze from the young man.

"Definitely a keeper," added Mary as Milah blushed and gave a quick farewell and dragged Killian to the living room.

"Never leave me in a room by myself with them," said KIllian as he sat on Milah's vacated chair, whilst the woman sat on the arm rest.

Milah laughed then turned to Moe. "Moe this is my boyfriend, Killian Jones."

"Boyfriend?" asked Moe turning from Milah to Adam. "You two aren't married?"

"They're best friends who got drunk out of their mind one night," explained Baelfire from the corner of the room. He looked up to see his parents glaring at him while Killian was giving him an amused smile.

"To paraphrase that," began Adam as Moe turned to him. "Milah and I are childhood friends, Moe. During our days in uni, we sort of had one too many drinks and well, as they, it's history."

Moe slowly nodded his head before turning to Milah and Killian. "Does that mean I can introduce my daughter to Adam then?"

Milah, Bae and Killian laughed as Adam blushed profoundly. "Sorry to rain on your parade, Moe. But Adam is also taken right now."

"She'll be here in a few minutes," said Adam, trying to lessen the attention on him.

"Seems to be a trend," said Moe. "My daughter is also seeing someone. I cannot wait to meet this man and be the overprotective, terrifying overprotective father."

Adam nodded his head and turned to Bae who was already shaking his head. "Don't even get any ideas Papa."

"I wasn't," replied Adam with a cunning smile but he was cut short when Aunt Ana entered the living room.

"We could use some help with setting the table," said Aunt Ana with a small smile but motioned for Moe to remained seated. "Not you, Moe. You're our guest. Just relax."

Moe raised his hands in surrender and Adam told him he could pour himself any drink that he wanted from the cabinet.

"That smells so good Aunt Ana," said Bae as he helped his father with the plates while Killian and Milah arranged the utensils.

"I cannot wait to eat myself," added Adam but he was a bit uneasy since Belle had yet to arrive.

It was as though he had summoned her there himself because as soon as the thought crossed his mind, the doorbell rang.

"I'll get it," called Moe from the living room which was closer to the door. He was already opening it when the others reached the hall.

"He-Papa?"

"Belle?"

"What are you doing here?" they chorused and Adam felt his heart skip a beat. It wasn't-

He heard a giggle from behind him and true enough as he turned, his three aunts were beaming at him.

"Now that is a funny coincidence."

* * *

"I knew you planned this," whispered Milah as she helped the ladies carry the food to the table. "I knew it!"

"We always knew you were smart, my dear," said Aunt Flo with a mischievous grin.

"Why didn't you tell both of them?" asked Milah.

"Do you honestly think that they would have talked to each other like that if they had known?" countered Aunt Mary.

"Fair point," conceded Milah. "But how did you confirm it?"

"Australian single father with a daughter named Belle who was just promoted," recited Aunt Ana. "Not very hard to figure it out, Milah."

"Tell that to your adopted son," said Milah with a grin. "He's probably beating himself up for not seeing it sooner."

"Well," began Aunt Ana. "He shouldn't be too hard on himself. One is easily distracted when they're in love."

They arrived in the dining area and Moe, Belle and Adam were still in good conversation.

"So this is the man you told me about Papa?" asked Belle teasingly, looking over at her boyfriend. "The man who has a good head on his shoulders though it was a shame he's married?"

"To be fair," began Moe, raising his hand in defense. "I did not know about Mr. Jones until he had arrived earlier."

"And my aunts could have introduced us properly," said Adam as his aunts and Milah came to the table. "I'm pretty sure they had known all along."

"Oh don't be a sourpuss, Adam," said Aunt Flo. "At least you and Moe have gotten to know each other already."

"Yes and this dinner wouldn't be awkward," added Aunt Mary.

Adam raised his arms in surrender. "Yes, I do believe that would be correct." He turned and shared a look with Moe. "But we could have used a proper heads up though."

"Oh Adam, where would be the fun in that?" said Aunt Flo. "You should have seen the look on your face when Moe and Belle saw each other at the door."

"I knew I should have had a camera ready." mumbled Aunt Mary as they all sat down.

"Alright, I think we've embarrassed him in front of his girlfriend enough for the night," said Aunt Ana.

"How about enough for the next century?" mumbled Adam as they all settled in for dinner.

"I think it's sweet," said Belle with a small smile.

"Yup," his three aunts said in unison.

"Definitely another keeper here," added Aunt Mary.

They ate under comfortable conversations and Adam had to admit, meeting Moe and spending half a day with the man before he knew he was his girlfriend's father had done wonders to the would have been boyfriend introduced to the father conversation.

Especially if Moe had already told Belle he had wanted them to meet.

Though now, he was a little more hesitant to be left in the same room as the man.

Belle must have sensed that because under the table her hand found his and she gave it a reassuring squeeze. He turned to find her already looking at him, a small smile on her face.

They didn't have to exchange any words because a silent conversation already passed over them.

* * *

"I am actually relieved," said Moe as he and Adam were once again back in the living room nursing their own glass of strong alcohol.

"I guessed that," replied Adam with a small smile. "Although I am beating myself up a little for not recognizing you. Belle has shown me a picture of you and your late wife already."

"Yes well I should have picked up on the journalist..I mean there aren't many newspaper companies here." countered Moe as he took a sip from his glass. "I must say, I am very very thrilled that it turned out to be you, Adam."

"Now I'm a bit hurt," said Adam with a smile. "Not really the man you pictured."

"No," said Moe. "But when it was revealed, it made a whole lot of sense."

"I am taking that as a compliment...in some way," remarked Adam and this got Moe to laugh.

"It's very nice to meet you formally, Belle's boyfriend," said Moe as he raised his glass.

Adam clinked his own with the other man's glass. "Likewise, Belle's father."

In the kitchen, a somewhat similar conversation was also taking place. Belle thought she wouldn't be able to keep up with the three women but they were surprisingly not as bad as Adam had painted them to be.

"Don't believe everything you hear from Milah and Adam, my dear," began Aunt Flo. "We've scared them until they're dying day."

"Not to mention how we can be a bit overprotective when it comes to those two," added Aunt Ana. "Not that you should be worried, Belle."

"Yeah, we're just glad that he's finally getting some," finished Aunt Mary.

"Mary!" chorused the two other women as Belle's face reddened slightly. This was not the topic she wanted to discuss with the three women her boyfriend considered his mothers.

"So you always took care of Milah?" asked Belle, desperately trying to change the topic.

"Milah's parents were always away for most of the day and could not get a hold of a housekeeper that would stay for more than a month," explained Aunt Ana.

"Since she was friends with Adam, her parents would often leave her with us when they didn't have a housekeeper or sitter available," continued Aunt Flo. "Mind you, those two got into an awful lot of mischief."

"That is something I'd love to hear," said Belle.

"Oh we've been sword the secrecy," winked Aunt Flo. "But I'm pretty sure Baelfire would be more than willing to share the knowledge."

Belle laughed as they continued to clean up in the kitchen. She debated whether to ask but Adam wasn't really conscious yet of things happening around him when he was found by these women.

"I can sense you want to ask something, Belle," said Aunt Ana, nudging the younger woman with her shoulder. "What is it?"

"It's….well I'm not really sure if it's alright to ask," managed Belle. "I mean I should probably ask Adam but I doubt he remembers any of it-"

"You want to know how we found him," finished Aunt Flo. "Well you can certainly ask, my dear. I'm sure Adam would have told you as well if he actually remembered."

"We were still selling our handmade garments in the market back then," continued Aunt Mary. "Our stall was right near the entrance of the marketplace and when we arrived one morning, there was a bundle of blankets there."

"A bundle of blankets that was moving slightly," added Aunt Flo. "When we came closer, sure enough we were shocked to find a young infant."

"There was no note, nor any other possession except for a straw doll that the infant was hugging." said Aunt Mary. "We didn't think twice about giving him up so we went and asked around how we could legally adopt the boy."

"Whatever it was that brought Adam to our little stall back then," began Aunt Flo. "We three are very grateful that it had happened. I can't bare to think if he had grown up with his real parents, those who abandoned him, what would have happened to Adam today...that boy was such full of love and joy, I hate to think of him being raised in an opposite environment."

"It's that thought that reaffirms our decision all those years ago," said Aunt Ana. "That we did the right thing by raising Adam as our own son." She motioned towards her sisters. "We've already knew from the beginning that we wouldn't marry and that we were basically stuck with each other. But that didn't mean we didn't want to have a family of our own, or a child. In a way, we helped Adam just as much as he helped us."

Belle smiled as she studied the three women. Their lives were thrown into whirlwind that day when they found a baby on their market stall...but rather than think of it as a curse, they did everything in their power to help the young boy and even raised him well.

"He mentioned that he never tried to look for his biological parents," began Belle. "Did you try?"

"We tried searching for them yes," replied Aunt Flo. "But with nothing to go by, we were always getting dead ends."

"He was very young to fit any description of the missing children in our town," added Aunt Mary. "We always waited for the day that they would come and take him away...but no one came."

"We would even call and ask the our local authorities in case someone did ask for him," said Aunt Ana. "But no one did."

"We never told Adam did because we thought he may think that we didn't want him," said Aunt Flo. "We just wanted to be able to answer his questions when he was older. But you know, Adam. The lad's smart."

"He told us himself that he didn't need any other family," began Aunt Mary, tearing up a little and Belle gave her a small smile. "That we were already his family and he didn't need to look anywhere else...we were it."

"He has mentioned that to me before," said Belle as she looked at the three women. "Adam's family is the three of you and Bae. He's happy and contented with you. He doesn't need his biological parents because he already has you."

The three women smiled and Aunt Ana, closed her own hand over Belle's. "That little group involves you now, Belle."

"And we've never seen him this happy since the day Baelfire was born," added Aunt Flo.

"Like I said," continued Aunt Mary. "Definitely a keeper."


	13. Chapter 13

_In this chapter, we learn some more background story of two important characters._

 _Note: Sorry that this chapter is short. The scene that follows this one was very long and I wanted that for the next chapter. So I had to cut this one short. PS: Hope you guys like the little crossover. Sorry I really pictured those two as Rumbelle sometimes._

Chapter 13

"That was most certainly a great way to end our trip," said Aunt Flo as they all sat themselves with a cup of tea at the Gold living room.

They had spent the entire day talking with most of Gold and Milah's colleagues much to both's dismay. The three elderly women did know a lot about Milah as well, seeing as she and Gold grew up together. The board of the Times sure got lots of laughs.

"Yes at our expense," mumbled Gold as he turned to see Milah nodding but their respective others were grinning like a cat.

"It was very informative," began Kilina, sharing a wink with Belle. "Wasn't it?"

"Yes, very," said Belle with a smile that found Gold squirming. "I'm pretty sure I'm going to be using everything I found today."

"Middle of his first and second rib on the right side," repeated Aunt Mary with a wink. "And he's all yours. You can probably make him do anything."

"Aunt Mary!" exasperated Gold as the rest laughed. He glared at Milah. "You're one to laugh, I'm pretty sure Killian has a few things under his belt as well."

"Oh I'm going to be more active at night as well," said Killian with a smile that properly turned Milah into a bright shade of red.

"Anyway," began Bae, with a smile. Sure he was old enough to understand what they were talking about, but it still felt weird given that these were his parents and their respective others. "What do you plan on doing once you get back to Glasgow, grams?"

"Well you remember Amara?" asked Aunt Ana as Adam and Milah nodded. "Well she finally decided to marry Bartholomew and we did promise her that we would make her wedding dress when the time came."

"Wow," remarked Gold with a look with Milah. "Took Balbi long enough."

"Balbi?" asked Belle with amusement written all over her face.

"Well he's second name was Xibalba," explained Milah. "Don't ask us why."

"He and Amara were always at each other's throats but deep down everyone knew they were in love," continued Gold.

"They were fairly obvious," added Bae from his position on the floor. All the seats were taken but he had no objection with sitting on the floor looking up at his family. "Hope we're invited." He turned to his father and Belle and his mother and Killian. "Or maybe you could do a triple wedding."

Gold was able to swallow his drink but Killian wasn't as fortunate as he and he was a coughing mess while Gold just glared at his son. "Next time warn a man when you say things like that."

The laughter from his son and aunts didn't ease his sour mood and he just excused himself to pour himself another cup of tea, maybe this time with a hint of Scotch.

He wasn't surprised when Aunt Ana followed him to the kitchen.

"It'll be a lot quieter without the three of you here," said Gold as Aunt Ana poured herself a new cup.

"As much as you always offer, Adam," began Aunt Ana with a smile. "We could never leave that little house back home. We could travel yes and be away from there for months...but actually relocate? You're going to have to drag those two kicking and screaming from our little home."

"Well you can't blame me for trying," said Gold but then he remembered something and it was always Aunt Ana who was the most organized of the three anyway. "Aunt Ana, are my old toys still there by any chance?"

"Of course," replied Aunt Ana, slightly surprised with the question. "We wouldn't get rid of anything without consulting you first."

"Yes, I knew that," replied Gold, wishing his voice would convince her but of course it wouldn't. Aunt Ana was the most level headed, observant of the three. Gold even joked that she could have rivalled Sherlock Holmes if he was a real person back when he was growing up. He could never hid anything from her.

"What's wrong Adam?" asked Aunt Ana, her hand already on his arm in a reassuring manner. "Did you-"

"No," replied Gold quickly. "I've said before Aunt Ana, I don't want to know who they were...I don't even care."

"Then why?" she asked again. "If you'd rather not say it's ok."

"It's actually work related," explained Gold. "You've heard of Zozo Greene, I presume."

"The man your entire workplace thinks ordered the attack on Ethan and yourself?" asked Aunt Ana. "What does he have to do with anything?"

The tone of her voice didn't go unnoticed. Her aunts were sweet old ladies but get on their backside and you'll be in for a surprise at how tough they were.

"I was interviewing him for our election special when he mentioned Peter Pan," continued Gold. "I've never told anyone about him, not even Bae or Milah. I was just curious how he found that out."

"He mentioned your doll specifically?" asked Aunt Ana, surprised.

Gold nodded. "That I was found by three ladies in a marketplace in Scotland with nothing but a blanket and a small straw doll." He sipped his tea then turned back to her. "You were the only ones who saw me right? No one else?"

"No one," said Aunt Ana. "But I could be mistaken. I could ask around-"

"No," said Gold rather sharply. "Like you've already pointed out Aunt Ana, this man is dangerous. I've dealt with him before and he usually just wants to make other people squirm. He just wanted to tell me that he knew who I was...maybe even hint that he might know my parents."

"By his words, he does," began Aunt Ana.

"Well his shown his cards and I'm not interested," argued Gold. "I already know who my parents are and those are the three elderly women in my house heading back to Scotland tomorrow."

Aunt Ana smiled and wrapped her arm around Gold in a sideways hug. Gold leaned his head over hers and clapped his hand over hers on his chest. Whatever Zozo hinted at before during their interview...it doesn't matter. His family was already there present at his house and he didn't need anyone else.

* * *

The number flashing on her phone was a surprise. Nimue could find no reason why he would be calling her at that moment but it was always good to hear a familiar voice so she answered.

"Gordon," greeted Nimue as she headed to her husband's study. Zozo was out meeting a few more political backers and she was alone at their house. Zelena had gone out as well, but Nimue was never worried for her head strong step-daughter. "Now this is a surprise."

"Not a pleasant one, Nimue," came the strong voice from the other end.

Gordon Fortem was an old acquaintance of Nimue back when she was still living in Europe, back when she was still married to her first husband. Gordon had been her partner with a lot of her deals that helped her rise to the top. He was the one that helped her when her family had fallen apart...all because of one unwanted infant.

"Someone hacked into my files," came Gordon's news. "I've only managed to trace the origin but not the culprit."

Nimue's breathe caught in her throat. "It was here wasn't it?"

"Yes," confirmed Gordon. "I doubt it's him though. This looks to be freelance. Not an investigator or a journalist."

Nimue took a deep breath to calm herself. "What did this person find?"

"That's the thing," replied Gordon. "It was all your files. From personnel file to all the deals you were involved in."

"Gordon don't tell me-"

"Our last deal was never documented, my dear," reassured Gordon. "Don't you worry yourself about that. What you should be worried about is your past was never a common knowledge there unlike here...until now."

"You think this was done to taint my husband's campaign?" asked Nimue, a new angle forming in her mind.

"Maybe, I don't know," admitted Gordon. "I'm not there and I don't plan on solving your own problems for you. I just wanted to give you a fair warning."

"That doesn't do me any good at all Gordon," hissed Nimue.

"Better than being surprised with an attack of this nature," replied Gordon. "Whoever this guy is, Nimue. He's good and he's got the resources to crack even the best confidential files in the planet." He paused as he studied the trail that stopped at the location of Storybrooke and nothing more. "Whatever secret you have buried, it won't stay that way for long."

"You just said our last deal wasn't documented," Nimue all but spat at the phone.

"Yes but with a few more pieces of the picture this person, whoever he or she is, will put it all together," said Gordon. "Either you come clean and stop whatever it is you have planned, my dear."

"What makes you so sure you I have anything planned?"

"Revenge was always your end game, Nimue." begun Gordon. "When you found out that they were in Storybrooke, you found yourself a ticket out of our lovely country so you could finally have your revenge."

"I've been in Storybrooke for quite some time now Gordon," countered Nimue.

"Yes well you were always a patient woman, Nimue," said Gordon. "I'm going to leave you with this. Don't expect me to keep in touch."

The line went dead even before she could muster a reply. Bastard. Just what she needed, more problems. Zozo's little solution with the Times regarding Glinda White proved to backfire, not to mention his rash decision to attack Ethan Dove, was already a problem she was still trying to fix. Now she had another one to add to her list.

Whoever this person was, he or she was a walking corpse.


End file.
